Ultra Genesis
by AtlasSniperman
Summary: In Alola, a young man takes on the island challenge to escape the voices in his head and accomplish something before the torture inflicted on his past consumes him..
1. Prologue

It was a small room. Two single beds, a small television sat on a cabinet opposite the space between the beds. A small kitchen was to the left of the beds, with a door that lead to the bathroom. The Bathroom was a simple share one; connecting the room to its neighbor. On the floor between the beds was sprawled a thousand little pieces of cardboard, only a few of which were not assembled together into the puzzle. A little boy lay at one end of the puzzle, feet tapping on the bedside table as he looked across to the only other person in the room. The man considered the pieces of the puzzle. Picking up one of the purple ones and pressing it into position before smiling at the boy. _"I think you might win this one"_ He smiled, watching the boy setting another piece into position. It was a rare puzzle, consisting mainly of what a normal person would call static, like on a television screen, and no borders. Without the lid the puzzle would be near impossible for most people. But that was of course, the fun of it. The man placed the next piece.

With the final piece laid into position, the child looked at the man. _"Is it time for the medicine?"_ After letting his one eyebrow settle, the man looked over at the clock nearby. Indeed it was time for the child's injection. He nodded as he stood and headed to the cooler sitting on the floor in the middle of the kitchen. Behind him, the boy began packing up the puzzle. _"Will we have to leave tonight?"_ The tone rung sad, but the man didn't notice. Not tonight, no. But as he retrieved the syringe from the sink and began loading the medication he confirmed that yes, they will have to leave soon. The child had been very good the last couple weeks; willingly taking both injections as it had slowly become part of the routine they had developed. _"Okay Daddy"_ The boy smiled, putting the packed puzzle into a bag before climbing up onto one of the beds and sitting as close to the middle as he could.

The man turned. _"Have you brushed your teeth?"_ As a response, the child grinned widely. _"Well done."_ He sat himself down on the side of the bed. Reaching over, the man slowly rolled up the child's pyjama sleeve. It was becoming a slower process each time, so as not to catch the material on any of the slowly forming scales across the child's arm. They speckled the skin seemingly randomly, and were not large enough to overlap yet, but they were definitely scales. _"I know it hurts."_ The man soothed as he searched for a place free of scale to slowly slide the needle in. _"But the medicine will help them go away"_ He smiled, finishing the injection before slowly removing the needle and wiping the skin clean. _"See, all done."_ The boy pulled the sleeve back down before hugging the man at the waist. _"You've been so good. We might even get a treat tomorrow. Does that sound good?"_ The child nodded silent agreement before the man gently peeled him away so that he could go clean up the syringe and finish packing.

The man pulled the sheets up to under the child's chin, smiling as he kissed the little forehead and turned the lamp off. _"Good night"_ He murmured before getting up and slowly moving through the dark into the bathroom. Here he could turn the light on without risk of disturbing any sleep. With the cooler beside him, the man lifted the lid away and began to check the contents. A new lie would have to be invented, the supply was running low. The man had taken enough to theoretically complete the process, but the changes were occurring slower than he had estimated. Flipping open the leather journal beside the sink he scanned over the tracings of the scales and the other notes he'd made over the past couple months. It may be that he simply underestimated the amount of treatment required. Perhaps the original subjects possessed some form of trigger that he had not been privy to. Or maybe this was as large as the scales were going to get. In any case he would have to make more doses at the next motel. For now he would simply update his journal and call it a night.

Three loud knocks at the door startled the man. _"Mr. Rekel, Police. Open the door please."_ He daren't let the curse audibly leave his lips as he sat on the bed in the dark. Another two loud knocks were followed by; _"We know you're in there Mr. Rekel. Don't make this any worse than it is. We have the motel surrounded"_ The child woke, looking around confused before the man spoke to explain.

 _"It's the bad men! Quick"_ He whispered, grabbing the boys bag and heading for the bathroom.

The sound of a key in a lock drew the man's attention to the front door, and the shadows under the door for the adjoining room told him that that way was not an option either. Fearfully he grabbed his journal and yanked the window open. Grabbing the frightened child as he made a move for his exit. He had pushed the boy partway through the window when he himself was seized and wrestled to the ground by a man in a a police uniform and wearing what appeared to be a bulletproof vest. Did they expect him to shoot at them? Really? The boy began screaming as another officer grabbed him and pulled him back into the room and out through the adjoining room with several other officers. _"Let him go"_ the man shouted, pinned to the ground. _"I have rights! You can't just take a man's pokemon!"_ His head was being pressed against the tile floor as handcuffs were being clasped to his hands behind his back.

 _"That's a child"_ the officer scolded as he pulled the man to his feet.

 _"Not any more."_


	2. Chapter 1

The sun was finally setting. The day has consisted of almost nothing but travel, with the few interludes where the young man had to sit and wait for the next mode of transport to arrive. Kaili was sitting on the deck of the ship, drink in hand and feet on the chair opposite him through under the table. He'd only come out when the sun had settled down and the cool wind had begun to blow. With a sigh he placed the half empty glass on the table and got up. Inside, the room was mostly empty except three or four tourists and the bartender behind the bar. While the bar did sell alcohol, it was not the exclusive product for purchase. The bar was in fact the only place on board where passengers could buy anything at all. The small man currently cleaning a glass shook his head in disapproval at Kaili's approach. _"I'm not selling you a third. Last time I did that a guy couldn't reach the railing in time."_ Kaili laughed and dissuaded the man's concerns, instead pointing to a small storage cabinet behind the bar. The cabinet had three drawers, a large one the height of the cabinet on the left, and two on the right. One small one on top and a larger one below. _"Lookin' to do some fishing? Not really much chance of that. We'll be making landfall in about half an hour."_ Again the young adult corrected the man, though no further information would prove to be necessary. _"How many? We got a deal on them. 5 Pokeballs for 900$."_ It was a curt sale, and as soon as it was finished, Kaili returned to his table and stowed the five spherical capsules in his bag.

The breeze across his face was cool and refreshing as Kaili looked out across the waves to the growing island of greenery in the distance. A deep inhale preceded the buzzing of his phone, and the long exhale was savoured before the call was accepted. _"Hey there! Good afternoon!"_ Came the excited voice through the speaker as Kaili set the phone down on the table. Resting it in front of the other chair such that the caller was effectively sitting opposite him. _"Kaili, right?"_ Kaili assumed in response that the man was Alola's 'Professor Kukui', a pokemon researcher living on the southern tip of Melemele island. _"Looking forward to meeting you."_ Kaili sighed as he leaned back. How long could he simply listen without responding? _"Have to admit, had a couple reservations when I got your email."_ Kaili's head tilted to the left a little, here comes yet some other scolding. _"Don't get me wrong, Pokemon Trainer is a completely legitimate profession."_ It was as if the phone had farted, the 'but' was that palpable. _"I'm just a little worried about if it doesn't work out? Many people just can't cut it as a trainer. I'm not saying you can't, cousin, I'm just concerned of course Y'know?"_ If Kaili wasn't certain he could do this, why would he bother putting any effort into even starting it. _"I suppose it's better you go through official channels than just wander off to do it though."_ If this was one thing, it wasn't wandering. 9 hours of flights and bus rides, and 4 hours by boat is not just a whim. _"So yeah, shoot me a photo and I'll make up your trainer passport. You'll need it if you ever want to go h-"_ The young man chuckled silently as the professor cut himself off momentarily as if he'd just committed some unknown faux pas. _"Sorry cousin. But yeah, send me a snap and we'll get you started tomorrow!"_ With the sun where it was, Kaili promised to simply send the photo when the call ended. Maybe that would end it sooner. _"There's even a festival going on in a couple days. It'll be a nice place for you to see the quality of trainers here in Alola!"_ Hint missed? _"All right, See you tomorrow!"_ No, it seemed the man got the hint quite easily as he hung up shortly thereafter. As promised, Kaili took a photo and texted it to the number that had called, before turning the phone off and slipping it into his bag.

==== 28th November ====

= Hau'oli B&B =

The sunlight flooded the room with the razor blades of the brilliance of the new day. Too easily did the light pierce Kaili's eyelids, even as he rolled over atop the small bed. His left arm rose up to pat around the windowsill behind him. Finally finding the hem of the curtain, the man pulled it shut to re-douse the room in darkness. With the assailant gone, his hand flopped back down to permit him further- The rumbling, screeching noise of a vaccuum cleaner finally reached his ears, resulting in his eyelids finally snapping open. With an annoyed grumble he sat up on the bed, unwillingly pulling the topsheet with him as he did so. With eyes closed he groaned tiredly. Reaching over with his left hand to disconnect the sheet from the overlapping scales they'd become entangled in on his right arm and his lower back. As he stretched, the slight scratching noise of the scales at his lower back grated his ears. After rubbing his eyes, he got up and fished a new change of clothes out of his bag. The only thing he didn't like about the prospect of Alola was the heat with long sleeves. But he was not going to bare his arms ever again.

Desperately blocking the sound of the vaccuum cleaner out of his head, Kaili trudged out the room. Before turning around and truding back in to put his shoes on and trudge come straight back out again. Half-asleep he shuffled into the kitchen, only to find a plate with two pieces of toast with peanut butter sitting there waiting for him. At least he assumed they were for him, it'd be an asshole thing to do to wake up a customer and not have food waiting. It was bad enough there wasn't- Oh hey, coffee. Arms laiden he shuffled over to the dining table and sat with his back to the window. Slowly grazing on his toast as he drank his breakfast, it took a while for him to slowly adapt to the morning. About the time he felt he was ready to consider the morning 'good', the vaccuum cleaner shut off and the woman passed through the dining room with it. _"Sleep well?"_ She asked, Kaili closing his eyes to try and quiet the other noise. The swift answer didn't seem to annoy her. _"Well, Kukui popped by earlier-"_ Is there such a thing as earlier? _"- and said he'd wait for you up in Iki town. It's a suburb just north of here."_ She smiled, looking at him _"Coffee good?"_ Coffee, good. _"Well, you're welcome to continue to stay here, but you did only pay for three nights. Will that be enough?"_ the look on his face was a simple one. Clearly it would have to be enough.

Once he'd finished his breakfast, Kaili washed his cup and plate; grabbed his bag, and was out the front door. The return of the blinding sunlight reminded him that he'd have to buy sunglasses at some point. Looking out the door he noticed the beach ahead and knew that he was facing south. When he'd walked here from the marina last night, he'd noticed two paths northward from here, the one on his right currently was higher set, looking down on the other. The one on the right however was cliffside, with a long stream of foliage that he assumed at this time of day would serve well to block out some sunlight. His mind made up, Kaili set off around to the left of the house to walk breezeside to the north. The soft breeze was so nice that for a period of his walk, Kaili even dared close his eyes and simply breathe in the smell of the ocean. Until of course, light scratching sounds echoed in his ears. Clamping his hands over his ears did not help, not this kind of sound that was the sound of a thousand creatures shaking the grass as each snuck up upon him. But when he opened his eyes, Like every time before, there stood only one creature. A small brown rodent with a mouthful of teeth and a stripe of golden hair down its back snarled up at him. More sounds of creatures closing in. As if choreographed, three strange pokemon moved around to make a small wall between Kaili and the rodent. Each of them growling at the creature before one of them, a black and red feline creature, took two swipes at the original creature. After being attacked, the rodent scurried away back into the long grass.

Echoes preceeded the voice of Professor Kukui, who was walking up the hill behind Kaili. _"Hey there, cousin!"_ The man's shirt was open and he seemed to relish in the breeze across his chest. _"I went back to the house to check on ya and she told me you'd already set off"_ He smiled, watching as the pokemon that had surrounded Kaili's feet returned to around his own. _"I sent these three ahead to find you, just in case y'know?"_ Another deep breath and Kaili finally responded.

 _"I'm guessing this was a set up? Make sure that pokemon attacks me and then have these three save me so I hopefully form some kind of bond with one of them?"_ He shook his head, it was a stupid ploy. _"I don't want nor need handout pokemon."_

 _"You need a pokemon in order to catch a pokemon."_ The professor responded, his head tilted forward so he could look at Kaili in the full light over the top of his sunglasses.

 _"And how did someone catch the first pokemon then?"_ There was a moments pause, the question simply hanging between the two until finally the older man sighed and smiled. With a couple strides, he easily closed the gap between them, extending in his hand a small leatherbound notebook.

 _"Do you need any pokeballs, or do you have some already?"_ He asked, no annoyance or anger in his tone. It sounded, if anything, like a hint of respect. When Kaili showed his own capsules, the man nodded and returned the three followers to pokeballs on his belt by simply tapping each capsule in turn. _"Well then. Good luck. The festival in Iki town starts at 6 pm tomorrow. You'll meet the Kahuna there. Though you're welcome to come look around if you like"_ He smiled and continued his trek northward past Kaili.

Kaili simply stood there a moment, watching as the man walked away up the hill, before himself turning to the cliff. He'll wait a while, just sit on the edge and look out at the ocean. Admire all the space in front of him, the cool air rushing over him and the smell of the salt water. For the first time in months, the corners of the youth's mouth curled up as he relaxed and enjoyed the view. Movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention to the strange balloon drifting beside him. It had two ribbony streamers dangling from its base, that seemed to have gotten tangled around his forearm. At first, when he grabbed one of the streamers to unknot it, he thought it felt almost alive. And when he brought his hand back after the initial start, he found his original alarm to be warranted, it was some kind of tendril or vine. Two eyes, that he had not noticed before on the balloon, blinked slowly at him as it attempted to drift away from him. With its vines still wrapped around his arm, the creature attempted to drift against the wind, floating off the cliff. But despite its best efforts, the poor thing was anchored to him. Kaili had to chuckle _"Oh nooooe"_ he feigned _"It's going to kill me!"_ the chuckle could not be stopped. _"Nooooooo. Hey wait, you can't do it? Are you calling me fat, mr. Balloon?"_ The creature seemed to chuckle in return. _"How DARE you"_ He placed his hand back down on the grass at the edge of the cliff.

 _"Well, if you're not going to let go, I'm not going to make you."_ He laughed, holding his arm up like a falconeer so the balloon bobbed next to him. A small 'click' was audible as he got his arm into position and left it sit there as the two looked out across the endless blue. It was nice. To have company but not the nagging noises, or thoughts, or whatever they were, constantly chittering about. With his left hand, Kaili unzipped his bag and pulled out a small medicine bottle. It'd been about an hour since breakfast, right? He pondered before popping a single pill out of the bottle and onto his lap. He returned the bottle to his bag before swallowing the pill. As his left arm peeled the zipper back into place, his eyes fell upon a glint jutting out of the stone of the cliff face beneath him. He squinted to see it at first, but once his eyes discerned the shape, it was something he couldn't unsee. A sword. There was a sword jutting out of the cliff face halfway down. _"Were you trying to show me that?"_ He said, looking from the balloon back to the sword. _"Interesting."_ He looked from side to side, listening as he did so... _"The pills don't usually make me hallucinate, and they don't act this fast..."_


	3. Chapter 2

The nineteen year old's hair barely swayed as he looked from the glint of the sword jutting out of the clifface below, to the little balloon creature clinging to his arm. _"How do you think it got there?"_ He asked aloud, fully aware the balloon wouldn't answer him. _"Some kid could get hurt if they found it though."_ he groaned. Getting down there would not be easy. But he couldn't leave it laying around, he'd seen enough bleeding kids. None of that thanks. The cliff was too sheer to climb down here, besides, falling on that sword would probably be worse than just falling normally. Looking to his right, then his left, and right again, Kaili scanned for a more easily traversable path. What he found wasn't a path in the traditional sense, but a section where the cliff had collapsed several times and gradually worn away to an extremely steep slope. But it was a slope with grass growing on it. The slope didn't take long to get to, even with Kaili having to squeeze himself past a particularly prickly tree. The actual descension of the slope was trickier than he'd first assumed. Dirt slid out from underfoot several times, threatening to send him tumbling down to the base. _"It's okay, I'll be fine"_ He reassured the balloon as he regained his footing. _"See Mr. Balloon, its getting easier the further down I-"_ the ground gave way again, wrenching his foot out from under him, and sliding him ungraciously the several remaining meters to the beach. Having been dumped so unceremoniously on his ass, Kaili stood, brushing the sand off of him and scowling at the chuckling creature. _"Not funny"_ He'd lost a shoe at one point during the slide. Not that he minded the feel of the sand underfoot. So pleasant was the sensation in fact that the young man removed his other shoe and both socks for the walk up the beach to the sword, jutting out at about chest height.

Around the cliffface where the sword stood, lay hundreds of sticks and shells. Pieces of driftwood and large stones littered the rest of the beach but were somewhat absent in this area. The sword, he found, was jutting out of the rock's surface. However long it was, a large amount of it was embedded deep into the stone cliff. While a narrow blade, it was slightly curved even in the length he could see. The hilt had no crossguard, and was thin and exquisitely carved. Ornate decorations including a stylistic eye on the pommel, which itself was a semicircle in shape with only half of the flat end actually connected to the hilt, the other half extending to be in line with the cutting edge of the blade, as if the handle part was simply squeezed into existance out of the blade itself. A long blue-green ribbon dangled from the end of the pommel, seeming to extend from inside. A golden design was printed on the cloth, though he could not make it out due to its fluttering away whenever he reached for it. Shrugging, the young man grabbed the sword by the handle and pulled. But it did not move. Again he tugged to no avail. Placing his left foot on some scratches in the rock, where the blade had struck prior to its lodging he assumed, he kicked off as he pulled and finally ripped it free.

The moment the blade had been finally wrenched free, the banner hanging from the end of the hilt was caught in the breeze and wrapped itself around Kaili's right forearm. Assuming it was nothing, the young man grabbed at the cloth with his free hand and found it to be clinging rather tightly to his own form. As he tugged at it he felt a growing unease and a slight sense of vertigo, as if he was being pulled out of himself as in a near waking dream. But he did not fall back into his body with a jolt, he was being drawn out of himself and into the sword that was clasped in his hand. Letting go of the hilt did nothing but let the blade swing to the ground, pivoting off his forearm where the banner was wrapped. Thinking as quick as he could, Kaili's free hand wrenched open his bag, pulling the zipper apart in the process. Snatching one of the pokeballs, he pressed it to the sword and-... Nothing. To the banner! ... Nothing. He dropped the pokeball and looked around for something, some way out of this; Mr. Balloon, Seashells, Cliff, rocks, sticks, pokeballs, phone. Deciding not to try breaking his own arm or lodging it in the cliff again, Kaili grabbed two sturdy looking sticks out of the sand. _"Thanks, Mr. Balloon"_ He groaned in pain as the pokemon attempted to drift up, having itself let go of his arm. While the streamers were now still pinned to his arm by the cloth, the struggling did leave a space large enough by one tendril to shove a stick into. The wood ground against the scales on his arm but it eventually poked out on either side of the.. the uh... the banner. Shaking his head as vigorously as he could to try and clear his vision a little, Kaili grabbed one end of the stick and wriggled it away from the tendril and up his own arm. Quickly he shoved the other stick into the original space. He left hand grabbed the inside end of the upper stick as he wrapped his elbow under the outside end of the lower stick. Gritting his teeth, the youth pulled. The two levers lifted and twisted the banner unnaturally, and its strain compressed his scaled beneath the sleeves of his shirt. But in the end he was wrenched free, leaving the sword sitting in the sand with the banner laying harmlessly beside it. Mr. Balloon bobbed in the air around the sword, its tendrils flicking down and then out of the way when the blade or banner moved. Kaili though, sat quite exhausted on the sands.

After catching his breath, Kaili lurched toward the sword. As its banner flicked up at the Purple creature again, Kaili's hand snatched a smooth purple stone off the ground. With as fast a motion as he could manage, the young man pinned the banner to the blade with the stone, pressing down to make sure it couldn't snag him again. His left hand patted the ground behind him until it fell upon the pokeball he had dropped. Bringing the ball back around, he placed it against the sword and watched as the blade, hilt, banner, and another object nearby, faded into red and then out of existence. He had noticed the other piece before, but his brain had assumed it was driftwood. No, as it faded he recognized it as a scabbard. When the ball clicked, Kaili's vision went completely crazy. He was no longer on the beach, but was instead knelt down by a little burrow in the dirt. Then he was standing looking up into a large spider web in a tree. Standing on the cliffside having just caught a falling pokeball. Sitting on the cliff, pokeball in one hand, fishing rod in the other. A couple of the flashes repeated with slight differences he could barely notice, until he was back to kneeling on the beach. _"WHAT THE FUCK?"_ He shouted, launching himself backward and looking around. _"no no, no no no"_ He began to hyperventilate. This was the next stage, clearly. He was going mad. _"The pills will work, they'll work."_ A thought nagged at him, perhaps it was happening again? No. He had to pull it together. He'll get through this, they had stopped, he was lucid at least. _"Thank you"_ He finally said when he'd calmed down enough, looking to the balloon. _"You're a drifloon, right? Wanna travel with a trainer?"_ It bobbed in response. _"I'll take that as a yes. Here."_ After rummaging through his bag he rolled another ball across the sand. More red, and the creature was gone. Nervously; he grabbed the pokeball. Again the visions assaulted him. At first he was accepting a pokeball from Kukui. Then he was kneeling in the grass with a pokeball as the pokemon sent by Kukui were walking up to him. Finally he was putting a largish rock down after having kicked a pokeball out from under it.

 _"Okay, either I'm crazy, or that had something to do with my second and first pokemon respectfully."_ He sat in the sand, Mr. Balloon's pokeball in hand. _"Either case there's nothing I can do about it"_ he mumbled as he typed 'Mr. Balloon' into the tiny keypad that had popped out of the pokeball. With a flash of red light, he let the purple creature back out of the ball. _"So, shall we let the other one out too?"_ He asked, to a single bob response from the balloon. _"Very well."_ He stood up, scooping the other ball up as he did so. With a button press, the sword appeared half embedded in the sand, banner blowing in the breeze. Kaili began to walk in a circle around it, typing on his phone. _"Sword, alive, attack wielder. Okay, it says you're a Honedge."_ He looked it up and down. _"Now what kind of sword are you?"_ the young man stopped pacing, took a photo of the sword and entered it into a search engine. _"Hmm, looks like you are from Tsavien,"_ He smiled to the Drifloon. _"Got it in one. Now, Are there any Tsavien folk tales about swords."_ It didn't take much effort to find a quick answer; _"Here we go 'Kladenets; the self-swinging sword'. That seems appropriate"_ He smiled before putting his phone away and typing the word into the swords pokeball. _"There we go. So, I'm your trainer now, and so help me I will be able to hold your hilt!"_ Ball in his left hand, Kaili advanced and grabbed the sword by the handle again. However, this time when it wrapped its banner around his arm, he simply pressed a button on the pokeball and it disappeared, only for him to press it again and watch as the sword reappeared in the sand in front of him. _"Works now because I caught you. Right, I've got all day."_ The young man grinned as he once again grabbed the hilt of the sword. Again it wrapped around his arm but he withdrew and unleashed it. Again and again, and again he repeated the process. It was very little work for the man, but considerable effort for the poor blade which did eventually, after what must have seemed like countless repeats, relent.

By the time Kladenets had seemingly given up countergrabbing, the ground was standing in the shade of the cliff. _"I think, that'll do, for today"_ Kaili panted, smiling as he lifted the sword. _"I'll give you a break for a while"_ and in another flash of red light, the sword was gone. _"Though I do like the idea of carrying you on my belt or back eventually."_ Having given himself a moment to rest, the young man finally noticed how exhausted and hungry he'd become. It was time to either head back to the Bed and Breakfast, or up to Iki town. Holding his left arm out this time, for the small purple balloon to grab onto, Kaili picked up his bag and turned to trudge back down the beach to the slope he'd come down originally. Great streaks were visible where the ground had given way underneath him several times. From this angle however, in the shadow of the main cliff, it was easy to see the areas where the ground was loose. _"Mr. Balloon, come look at this please"_ He said, pointing to two areas. After a couple minutes attempting to explain the difference in the two appearances to the pokemon, Kaili put this to the test. Slowly he advanced up the slope, constantly looking over his shoulder at the swaying balloon near the base. It simply leaned from side to side as he climbed, but when it leant left; he moved at the same angle left. Similar for when it leant right. While it was slow going, the youth was able to reach the top without slipping once. Mr. Balloon had a much easier journey as it simply floated up.

Standing atop the cliff, Kaili breathed in the fresh sea breeze. He'll never grow tired of it. An invigoratingly cool wind that caresses him as he walks. In the shadow of the main mountain of the island, Kaili felt much more comfortable than at any point prior that day. It was almost enough to put a spring in his step. But it didn't. At some point during his walk northward, Kaili swore he saw a familiar stone a few meters off the path. But he had never been here. He had to keep telling himself that nothing here was familiar, not the rock, not that tree with a spiderweb in it. Eventually he reached a set of wooden stairs. Old and worn, and with a bannister on either side. The bannisters were a dark wood, engraved with various traditional designs. At the top and bottom of each bannister was a strangely woven wooden basket filled with sticky looking leaves and twigs. Kaili ignored them but withdrew Mr. Balloon all the same, he didn't want the attention. The 'town' was small, about 8 buildings seperated into two tiers. He had entered at the bottom tier. Two people were having a conversation to his right as he entered. The young man scrunched up his eyes and covered his ears to try and block out all the noise, the thousand voices in his head all at once. Hundreds of conversations bombarding his ears as people went about their routine in the afternoon shade. He could feel a pair of arms around his shoulders as he found himself on his knees in the dirt. A hundred voices among the crowd speaking to him. _"Are you okay sweety?"_ The hundred said disjointed. Had it been a harmony he could have dealt with it. But each started at a different time, had a slightly different tone. They were all seperate but he could not seperate them. His vision blurred as his mind tried desperately to focus on sorting the voices. The arms guided him to his feet, and with the help of another pair, guided him to what he could only guess was a chair. The two sets of arms had voices, which had now begun to talk to him and each other. _"Get him some water""He looks peaked""Go fetch him some food"_ the first hundred voices said all in a jarring overlap.

A bottle of water was placed in his hand, which the young man began to try and place on whatever nearby table there was. Instead he finally decided to place it on the ground as he grabbed his bag and with his eyes closed, rummaged around to find a small bottle of pills. Popping one out into his hand, Kaili immediately swallowed it, chasing it down with some water before he returned the bottle to his bag. His hand finally found the table, upon which he rested his elbow so he could rest his head in his hand. _"Pass me that pill bottle please""Did you see what those pills were?"_ The first voice continued, obviously not talking to him. But he couldn't block out the thousands all around him, he was clearly drawing a crowd but could barely function right now. He had to pick a voice and focus on it. Any voice, just focus on a voice until the pill could take effect. The second of the two that helped him, her voice younger and more clearly concerned, was in many of the iterations; trying to get people to back off. Twice he tried to say he was fine, that he was feeling better. But he was sure no-one believed him. _"Everyone please, back away, I think the crowd may be making it worse for him."_ The first voice spoke up. Clear, singular, he'll focus on her words. _"That's it. Thank you. About your business please"_ His vision was finally coming back. He had made sure to keep drinking water, but did not much enjoy the ordeal, or the pain all down his back. _"Are you okay sweety?"_ The older woman asked. He could finally see them. Three people were looking at him concerned; A young native looking boy with brown hair, a cute girl about his own age with long hair, and an older blonde woman with waist length hair. He nodded, to which the blonde woman responded. _"These are Hau and Ivy, I'm Lusamine. Do you need anything else? Food? Water?"_


	4. Chapter 3

He was sitting at a small table outside what he assumed was simply a coffee shop. The weight of their eyes upon him made the young man slightly uncomfortable. _"Thanks"_ He mumbled. The three standing around him instead moved to sit around the table as if joining him. _"I'm fine now, just a little heatstroke"_ He knew they could see through the lie. _"I'm just going to go for a walk in the shade over there"_ He pointed to a path leading up the mountain a little, shaded by the towering rock and the trees it wound itself through. They kept asking him questions, simple questions. Questions they probably assumed were completely reasonable, but he couldn't tell them, not a bunch of strangers.

 _"Then how about a pokemon battle?"_ The energetic boy Lusamine had called 'Hau' piped up.

 _"What?"_ Came the response in unison from both Kaili and Ivy.

 _"Well, it gives you some exercise, and lets us keep an eye on you!"_ Hau grinned, it probably seemed perfectly rational to him.

 _"What pokemon do you have?"_ Kaili responded slowly. A flash of light answered his question as the little green bird that had come to his 'rescue' that morning, appeared beside the kid, who seemed to radiate excitement, much like the girl Ivy, who sat at the table apparently thrilled at the idea of seeing a pokemon battle. Kaili didn't look away from Hau's eyes though, he could see the bird but didn't look at it. _"How long have you had it."_

 _"About an hour before you showed up"_ Hau laughed, picking it up, _"We were playing chase when you arrived"_

Kaili nodded, _"Sorry, but no"_ He responded calmly. Ivy's face went from smiling to surprised wonder, while Hau's simply lost a little energy. _"No slight intended, but-"_ Mr. Balloon came out of his pokeball to hang off Kaili's shoulder. _"-You wouldn't be able to touch me"_ He shrugged. _"Sorry, but it'd be too one-sided"_ Ivy sounded more disappointed by this than Hau, who instead just perked back up.

 _"Then we'll train some and battle you tomorrow at the festival!"_

 _"Yeah, sounds like a plan"_ Kaili nodded, picking up his bag and ignoring as Lusamine asked yet again about the bottle of pills. _"See you then"_ He nodded before setting off northwards to the path, anything to get away from people. The voices were gone for now but it still made him uncomfortable. As his left foot passed the weird totem-like statues that marked the start of the path, someone arrived beside him. The lass smiled warmly, her purse clutched in her hand and her skirt fluttering a little after her jog. His immune system could not defend against Ivy's infectious smile. _"Come to keep an eye on me?"_

 _"Nope!"_ She chirped, giggling at him _"I just wanted to go for a walk this way."_ Her walk had spring to it that almost made her look to be skipping. When she was a couple meters ahead of him she turned _"You a slow walker?"_

 _"No, Just wanted to enjoy the view"_ He continued walking. Kaili made a concious effort to admire the plants as they walked. There was a gentle silence between them for a good moment as they wound along the path. At times, wooden stairs were built into steeper sections of the walkway, but for the most part the journey was dirt and underbrush. _"So, you're a native?"_ He found himself inquiring against his better judgement.

 _"Yep, Mum and Dad moved to Ulaula after Mari was born"_ She smiled, matching his pace. She spoke rarely, but energetically, almost as if she was restraining herself. _"Daddy brings us here for picnics some days."_ A choked, or maybe muffled, scream from up ahead seized their attention. Without even looking at each other, the two broke into a run. Ivy went straight through the brush, while Kaili was restrained to the path. He'd never run much and was certain the girl would get there before him no matter which route they each took. At the end of the trail was a clearing at the edge of a cliff. A blonde haired girl was on her knees by the rickety wooden bridge, with Ivy's arms around her.

At the middle of the bridge was a strange creature, it looked to be glittering purple cotton candy. It shook frightened as three birds swooped and pecked at it. The bridge had many missing planks and didn't look particularly stable. _"Is that your pokemon"_ Ivy asked the other girl. It took a second, as if she was weighing up her options before the girl whispered in the affirmative. The young man could tell there was more to the story than that, but they didn't have time. He looked up at the balloon currently tethered to his shoulder.

 _"Mr. Balloon? Deal with those three please."_ The tendrils detached from his arm as the purple ghost balloon floated along the bridge. Kaili could hear Ivy comforting the other lass, but paid them no heed as he gingerly stepped out onto the bridge. The planks groaned and creaked painfully under his weight, Kaili tried to keep fit, but some aspects of mass were beyond his control. Keeping his eyes up so as not to look at the considerable drop the raging waters below, the young man watched as two of the birds began swooping at Mr. Balloon. The purple pokemon however simply held the third in its tendrils, visibly squeezing a little, and slid out of the way of each swoop. It was almost as if the wind each bird generated while flying was pushing the balloon out of the way of any attacks. It was a slow journey but he finally reached the centre of the bridge, ignoring the unmoving bird that fell from just off the side of the bridge. _"Hey little guy."_ Kaili smiled, nervously kneeling down to scoop up the small pokemon. _"Lets get you back on solid land eh"_ Gripping the rail to help pull himself up, Kaili was honestly shocked when the wood around him finally gave way. It was probably the fact that his feet had to push down in order to lift him back up. Whatever the reason, Kaili was falling to the rapids below. The sound of thunder shook around them, and for the young man, everything seemed to move in slow motion. He was a third of the way down as a streak of yellow rocketed from the far side of the bridge. As it turned and arched down toward him, the young man tucked his knees up, curved his back, and pulled the little puff ball thing as close to his chest as he could. Moving as best he could in mid-air, Kaili rolled such that his back would hit the water first. But the instant that should have happened, he instead felt something grab his leg and pull him upward. The young man's back creaked, his neck would have whipped down had the scales not locked it in place during the fall. Soon after, he found himself laying in the clearing on the path side of the bridge. Uncurling himself and unlocking his neck, Kaili looked over at his rescuer. A strange black creature with two huge golden half-eggshell shields on its arms. Nodding, the creature flew away in another blur of golden light.

 _"Nebby!"_ The girl half-shouted as she scooped up the little purple creature Kaili had not realized had gotten so far away from him already. Rubbing his neck, Kaili realized quickly that both girls could see the scales there which had seemed to have ripped through his shirt at some point during the fall. _"Thank you so much!"_ The girl tackled Kaili to the sound of Ivy giggling a couple steps away. _"He just refuses to stay in the bag. I'm Lillie by the way"_ He nodded, introducing himself and Ivy as he did so, there was no chance of today being any quieter than the training on the beach, was there. It didn't really help, but Kaili appreciated Mr. balloon's attempts to assist him in standing. The young man rewarded the critter by gently rubbing the top of the balloon. _"I guess I should head back to town. It's more dangerous out here than I expected."_

 _"We'll come with you"_ Ivy announced, beaming. _"It's getting kinda dark so Dad will be wondering where I am."_ Kaili didn't understand why he was being volunteered to go with. Unless they just wanted him as protection, a fate he could deal with for now. The two girls stood waiting for Kaili until he said he would catch up, he just needed to tie his shoes. With a shrug, Ivy led Lillie back down the path in the fading sun. Bent to the knee, Kaili waited for them to be out of sight and out of earshot before whispering to Mr. Balloon.

 _"I need you to go straight back to Iki town"_ the balloon's tendrils released his arm but were caught in his hand. _"You need to find a man with a goofy hat and glasses, big white lab coat and no shirt. Make sure he's at the entry of the trail when we arrive."_ The young man released his grip, half smiling at the pokemon's confusion. _"Something isn't right. Just go."_ It bobbed once before flying off at a speed he'd not seen before. The young man himself too had to move at an uncomfortable pace to catch up to the girls. It was easier going downhill.

It was well and truly night when the three reached Iki town. Several of the bowls, like those Kaili saw when he first arrived, held enough fire to see everything by. Kukui was standing nearby talking to someone until he noticed Kaili and smiled, waving enthusiastically and strolling over. Almost synchronised with Kukui's approach was Ivy and Lillie continuing into the town. Out of the corner of his eye, the young man could see the blonde girl looking around nervously and clutching tight to herself the bag that held the strange 'Nebby' pokemon. _"Alola, cousin"_ Kukui grinned as Mr. Balloon re-affixed himself to Kaili's shoulder. _"Guess you were right about catching your first pokemon. Well done."_ Kaili nodded. _"I expect you sent him to fetch me so I could give you your pokedex and trainer passport."_ The man grinned, holding out a small document Kaili recognised as a trainer passport immediately. Taking it, he slipped it into his pocket as the professor pulled out a strange and cumbersome looking mechanical tablet. Noting the look of confusion on the young man's face, Kukui elaborated. _"It's a pokedex. It records data on all pokemon you catch, it's a high tech encyclopaedia! It even has a map function"_ The man smiled.

 _"Why would I want that?"_ Kaili asked, pulling out his phone and reopening the page on Honedge he had been looking at earlier that day. _"All the information on a pokemon I could want, and I don't have to catch it. Google Maps gives me directions, it even has text and call options as well as letting me check my email..."_ The boy grinned slying before holding the phone as close to Kukui's face as he could. _"I know it must seem foreign to you, but I swear it isn't alien. It's superior technology... Superior technology"_ He waved it a little the last time, as if the phone was a ghost. He quickly put the phone back in his pocket. _"Sorry, I do have something serious to talk to you about."_ Kukui raised his left eyebrow, clearly not expecting Kaili to want to talk to him about anything. _"See that girl over there?"_ He gestured as subtly as he could to Lillie, who was currently sitting at a table and looking around nervously. _"I think she's trying to run or hide from someone."_ Kukui stood up straight, pressing Kaili for his reasons. _"First found her after she screamed in fear but muffled her own scream, probably out of fear. She hesitated when asked if a pokemon was hers, though immediately after addressed it by a nickname she said as if it was just the name of the pokemon. And she'd really nervous out in public right now."_ Kukui nodded along before perking up at the end of the digression. Smiling, he grabbed Kaili by the shoulder and steered him over to join Ivy, Hau, and Lillie at the table.

As they neared the table, Kaili noticed that Lusamine woman marching up from the southern end of town. She had a fire in her eyes and determination in her stride. His eyes clicked from her silhouette, clothing, and hair to Lillie's. Shaking Kukui's hand off, the young man trotted forward to stand between Lillie and Ivy's chairs, a hand on the back of each. A cough from behind him. _"Oh hello, I thought you had left Ms. Lusamine"_ Kaili turned on the spot, swapping which hand was on which chair, ignoring the sight of the colour draining from Lillie's face.

 _"Oh Kaili, I wouldn't leave without my daughter. Come on Lillie."_ Her tone was sweet and kind but carried the authority of an order. Ivy's chair started to move back but Kukui was standing behind it, accidentally preventing her from getting up. Lillie mumbled a protest before herself pushing her chair back. _"What was that dear? No, you can't move out, you can't even dress yourself, how do you expect to be able to take care of yourself"_ The motherly tone was expertly layered over the insult. Hau looked from Lillie to Lusamine and back before noting the look on Ivy's face. He stood, stepping over to stand beside Kaili, between Lillie and her mother.

 _"Well, this's super dramatic isn't it. Lets not start a round, boys."_ Kukui smiled, looking at the woman Lusamine. _"I think its clear we would like to lend a helping hand."_ The man laughed. _"I'm happy to give Lillie a job if that's alright with you."_ The woman leant back on her rear foot, turning her attention from her daughter to the man. _"Name's Kukui, cousin. I'm the pokemon prof in these areas"_ His grin was big and silly. _"My lab gets really messy really quick, I need help keeping it clean and feeding the pokemon I have for research. What do you two say. Does that sound like something you'd like to do Ms. Lillie?"_ The professor looked from the girl to her mother and back, big grin. Lusamine's upper lip curled so faintly it could easily be missed before she agreed if Lillie wanted to. When the girl nodded shyly her agreement, the man clapped his hands happily _"Excellent! I have a loft if you would like to move in tonight, so there isn't much running around. You boys want to come help me get stuff in place?"_ Kaili and Hau nodded. Watching as the blonde woman marched off in a huff. Ivy hopped up the moment she could, asking what that was all about. _"Ivy, could you please find where ms Lillie was staying and help her gather her things. I need to have a word with the lads here."_ Kaili knew he was in for a lecture, but right now he didn't care. He had a new respect for this man.


	5. Chapter 4

In the morning light he sat. Resting on the edge of the cliff on route 1, looking out across the ocean. Alone with his thoughts, Kaili yawned. He should be asleep, there is no point being awake this early- _"Mind if I sit?"_ A voice said beside him, the young man didn't look over, just shrugged. _"Thanks"_ the man responded as he sat beside the boy. _"Strange, isn't it?"_ He said, almost to himself Kaili thought. _"You ran from everything; the system, your 'friends', the doctors, but not the voices."_ The man was difficult to look at, as if some part of Kaili's mind didn't want to turn his head, didn't want to react. No-one knows, this had to be a hallucination. _"Only a matter of time until you run out of those pills. What will you do then?"_ Kaili tried to stand up but it was as if a force was pressing him down, a weight in his mind telling him not to acknowledge it. _"What if I told you you could control the voices?"_ There was a coldness to the tone. _"After all, they don't want you to listen, they just want to be heard."_ The stranger stood, walking away from the young man. Kaili chances a look, terrified at what he saw. Nothing. No-one was around, nothing moved.

A stabbing pain brought the young man back to reality. Back from the dream of the cliff to the bed he was wrapped up in. He blinked groggily, trying to open his eyes and move his head. As his mouth closed he could feel the wet spot on the pillow from his own drool, but it didn't matter when the stabbing pain wracked his chest and back. When he tried to move his arms, he almost screamed in pain as it felt like whole sections of his skin was trying to peel off. The pain woke him to full conciousness, allowing him to finally understand the predicament he was in. His left arm was bent behind his back, the scales along his forearm latching onto the ones on his back like a velcro of daggers. His right arm was locked into position by the interlocking of its own scales, bent up at a horrible angle behind his back, with his fingers pressed against the wall. The bedsheets were wrapped around him, pierced by his scales at odd angles, and pinned to him awkwardly. Of only one thing was he thankful, he could still breathe. He could feel the sheets strain against him as he attempted to gently wrangle himself free. Every move he made was resisted by the bedsheets, a problem he eventually gave up trying to solve. The ripping sound was possibly the worst of it. The sound of losing money. But he tore through his cocoon, emerging as a beautiful derpifly as he half fell off the bed in the struggle and his face hit the floor hard. _"I hate mornings."_

Ashamed, the young man lifted himself off the floor and got dressed. The long sleeves caught as he pulled the shirt on. As if the scales had grown overnight. _"Just my fucking luck"_ He mumbled to himself. _"Now of all times."_ He lifted his arm and snarled at his own armpit. _"Growing pains? Are you fucking serious? At 18?"_ He rubbed his eyes and finally opened the blinds, surprised by the lack of instant sunlight. A glance to his left at the clock; '2:15' _"Wow, Guess I hate afternoons too."_ he shrugged, grabbing all this things and moving them to the front door of the house. The last thing he grabbed was the bed sheet, which he folded best he could before placing it on the dining table, much to the shock of the woman who ran the place. _"I'll pay for it"_ He grumbled, spooning coffee into a cup. _"Sorry, bad dreams."_ A hot flush, he couldn't look at the woman as he sat down with his drink and pill. _"1000$ do?"_ He asked, mentally accosting himself for offering such a sum for it, but he couldn't spare much. He still had to buy his own food with the paltry sum until he earnt enough to live on from the battles. _"I would-"_ he began before she nodded, accepting the offer of 1000. _"Again, sorry."_ She shrugged and carried the large rag out to the bin. He sat in silence as he drank, simply staring at the wall for a good few minutes until finally finding his feet and shuffling back into the kitchen. He resolved to leave the cash on the kitchen bench as he left. And as he left, he did not look back, or even up.

Outside the B&B Kaili turned west today. Heading to the large and slightly noisy building a couple minutes walk up the road. Kukui's 'lab', if you could call it that, was to the south. While he wanted to go check to make sure the professor and his new assistant were getting along well, the young man had made a promise. Kukui had required Kaili to owe him three favours. Why three? One for the professor siding with him, one for the offering of a job to Ms. Lillie, and one for letting the girl stay at his lab. The favours, Kukui had promised, would be on a case by case basis. And the first one made the most sense to Kaili as he stood at the gates of the school, taking a deep breath and stepping inside. It was nearing the end of the school day and the children were all in class. The school itself was a single large building, no more than 3 floors tall, with a basketball court and a strange fenced off garden area that looked unkempt and wild. 'Melemele school' was printed in large lettering across the signs at various places around the building. With a sigh the young man let himself in through the front door to a small reading room or reception area. The woman behind the counter smiled happily. _"Hello! Can I help you?"_ Her perky nature reminded him of both Ivy and Hau, as if it was an archetype of people on this island. Not knowing what else to do, he approached the bench and lent over it. A large sign behind her showed the faces and names of all the staff; 'Kirsty Chambers; English and Japanese.', 'Ryan Cabberin; Science and Physical Education.', 'Tanya O'Brien; History and Mathematics.', 'Janice Krite; Principal', 'Amanda Lake; Reception', 'Brian Chambers; Janitor'.

 _"Umm, Kukui sent me"_ It seemed stupid to say. She laughed and held up one finger with a smile as she grabbed the phone and began dialing. It wasn't a long wait before a woman came down the large staircase opposite the entrance.

 _"Kaili, yes?"_ The woman asked, looking him up and down. _"Kukui told me about you, and how you kindly offered to help out while he trained his new assistant"_ She had been looking at a clipboard for most of the statement, only glancing up with the last word. _"We're a three class school you see. All the students are placed in classes based on their own aptitude with a topic, to learn at a similar rate to their peers. We sometimes have volunteer classes as well"_ She closed the lengthy gap between them with a few strides, standing beside him at the reception counter. _"Here are a list of the students that signed up for the Professors class, Ms Lake. Please call them into the trainer yard."_ The receptionist nodded and picked up the phone once again. The principals hand swung past Kaili's nose and pointed to a door behind him. _"This way please."_ The door had a large window with fog glass and a diamond pattern of wire inside it. Several locks were visible around the edge of the door, though the woman appeared lazy and simply lifted the door handle to unlock a lock hidden beneath it, unlocking all the others. _"Don't tell the students please."_ She chuckle leading him out into the overgrown garden area. Kaili had just enough time to actually look at the area before the students came filing out of the building behind him. A mix of ages from eleven to sixteen, standing around the door watching. _"Okay students, I know we promised Professor Kukui would show you how to catch a pokemon, but he is very busy today so he sent an actual pokemon trainer instead."_ There was a wave of murmuring through the kids, an obvious air of disappointment, which made the young man sent here far less enthused. _"Sir, will you please?"_ She stepped aside, leaving Kaili standing alone in full view of this group of chattering kids.

 _"Right"_ he sighed, grabbing a pokeball out of his bag and looking around until he spotted a small red and black bird. _"Ball"_ he held up the pokeball, _"Bird"_ He pointed to his left and threw the pokeball sideways. _"Caught"_ , there was a flash of light as the ball hit the pokemon and very quickly catches it. The silence that followed was only broken by the occasional secret chuckle. The principal however was less than impressed. _"Fine. Most of the time you have to weaken a pokemon."_ He sighed, letting Kladenets out of his ball to sit on the ground at Kaili's feet. _"Like this guy, was a struggle but I had to make him weak enough for the pokeball to control him. Some pokemon though, like that bird"_ He nodded to his left. _"Or that rat over there"_ He pointed at nothing in particular near the kids, ignoring the resulting small commotion. _"Are so weak, they have no hope of escape. Sometimes if you befriend a pokemon, they'll be willing to stay in the pokeball on their own."_ He shrugged, returning the sword to the pokeball. _"And... yeah. That's about all there is to it."_ The look on the woman's face was a level of disappointment he'd forgotten schools could wield. But she said nothing about it and simply ushered the children back to their classes with the addendum that Kaili was too busy to answer any questions. Clearly Kukui would handle that next time.

With the students inside, the principal just looked from Kaili to the pokeball. She was going to watch him pick it up, he knew it. But he was also dreading what he was certain would happen when he did. Pulling himself to standing straight, and trying to compose his thoughts, Kaili faked a smile before walking over to the pokeball. It sat peacefully in the grass as he reached down. A scale poking out the the sleeve as he extended his arm down to scoop the sphere up. And the moment his fingers brushed against the capsule, his mind was elsewhere. He was kneeling, arm under the stairs of the school with three children watching him. Then he was in the middle of the street, simply holding the pokeball out like he'd pressed it to something. There were several instances of him sitting on the beach to the south of Kukui's 'lab', with a fishing rod beside him and pokeball in hand. And finally, someone was handing him a pokeball in the middle of the street. When he'd returned to his own moment, Kaili stood slowly as if nothing had happened. Head down, he walked back through the door the woman was still holding open as he typed into the ball; 'Bird'.

Without looking back, the young man marched right out of the school and back onto route 1. He swung his back around to in front of him so he could reach in and pull out a bottle of water. _"What the hell else was I suppose to say? As is I sounded like a fucking nob."_ He drank, wiping his mouth dry before returning the water to his bag. The path split at one point; follow the beaten track or go the road less travelled? In the not so distant distance, the school bell rang the end of the day. Groaning, Kaili trudged up the overgrown path, he really didn't care to be seen by some kids right now. The path continued to a small clearing that when he looked from either entrance, could not be seen from the normal path. _"Well, I'm expected at the festival at what? 6? Guess I've got time to train a little."_ He tapped his oldest two pokeballs as his hand brushed past to grab his phone. "How to train ghost type pokemon" He mumbled as he typed in the search quiery. _"Okay. So basic advice is to just generally beat the crap out of any pokemon that isn't strong enough to hit them. Well that's stupid."_ It was annoying to spend an hour looking for realistic advice on how to train his pokemon. Eventually he simply resolved to look up how to train Honedge specifically, and even then the information was vague and useless. _"Fine. Come here."_ Frustrated, Kaili grabbed Kladenets by the handle. Thankfully the cloth didn't wrap around his forearm. _"How well can you move on your own like this?"_ He wondered aloud, holding the sword out level. Letting go, he watched as the blade spun around, the hilt rotating around his hand felt incredibly strange. While the sword couldn't fly, it could move completely around whatever it was touching.

After ten minutes of 'study', which consisted of Kaili and Kladenets finding out the extent of the swords mobility, the training began. Both Bird and Mr. Balloon fascilitated the training by throwing rocks at Kaili, which Kladenets had to deflect, even if it meant sliding along the young man's body to get into position to strike at a stone. Though many times the trainer grabbed at the hilt and swung the pokemon/sword on his own. _"That's enough"_ Kaili panted, dropping to his knees. Bird fluttered over to sit on its pokeball, balancing and chirping up at him. Mr. Balloon just drifted over and dropped a load of grass and leaves over the tired lad. _"Very funny."_ Kaili smiled. _"If anyone wants back in their ball, I won't mind, Have to walk to Iki town."_ Bird pecked at the ball, disappearing into it, but Kladenets seemed to lazy, and Mr. Balloon simply wrapped a tendril around the young man's shoulder. Grabbing the tree beside him, the young man pulled himself to his feet and set off up the northern trail toward Iki town.


	6. Chapter 5

Had he wanted to be melodramatic, Kaili would say the colours blinded him. Large displays could be seen all about Iki 'town', many favouring a yellow flower Kaili had not seen before and assumed to be a native species. The other flowers used appeared to be a similar or perhaps even the same breed, though present in pink, red, and blue varieties to a far lesser extreme than the yellow. The fire braziers that he'd noticed first time were now decorated with arrangements or large leaves, and the space above the heads of 'traffic' was an interlaced web of cords supporting a scattering of spherical lights slightly smaller than the young mans head. The lights were slowly increasing in brightness at what seemed to be the same rate as the dying light of the sun, so that the town never got any darker or brighter as the people walked around in their gaudy clothes, talking and laughing amongst themselves. While there had been perhaps twenty people milling about town when he'd passed through yesterday, now there was at least eighty. And only enough voices to match, thankfully. Looking to the coffee shop he'd been taken to yesterday, Kaili could see it was prepared for far more patrons, with a collection of collapsible tables arranged so far as to cross what one might consider a 'road' in this place. The largest displays in view were those surrounding the upper tier of town, and the staircase leading up to that space.

 _"Kaili!"_ An excited voice called from near the coffee shop. As his eyes focused on where he had already been staring, he noticed a grinning brunette waving wildly from a table. Again Ivy called him with her overly enthusiastic tone, before he shook his head smiling and walked over. The small round table was butted up against another and chairs arranged such that seven people could all sit comfortably around it. Only two of the chairs were occupied however; Where Ivy sat, and another place being occupied by an only slightly older girl with black hair and very... interesting clothes. At a glance, Kaili could tell from their facial structure that the two girls were sisters, a 'fact' that was quickly verified by the grinning lass. The black haired girl held out her left hand toward him, introducing herself as 'Mari Cabberin'. Though she observed all the pleasantries, she clearly was not thrilled to meet him. _"I was just telling Mari about how you're going to be taking part in the festival!"_ Ivy continued, apparently ignorant of the slight distaste her sister was showing. _"Daddy says he might take part too. Wouldn't that be cool!"_ She giggled. _"I'll of course be cheering for you Kaili"_ She added with a smile at the furrowing of his brow. But it was her sisters comment that dug into him.

 _"Yes, everyone loves an underdog."_

The sound of a simple metal bell rang out across the town, the sharpness of the tone cutting through every conversation and calling all who heard it to its origin. At the second ring, many people turned and began to file calmly up the stairs to the upper level of the 'town'. Many conversations continued while walking, but everyone remained aware enough of their surroundings as to not be rude as they progressed up to the higher tier. A third bell chime rang out unnecessarily. The crowd, which had swept Kaili up in it by the hand of Ivy upon his wrist, settled into a large circle around a hexagonal wooden stage that occupied much of the open area of the upper level. A large, tanned, native man with an impressive beard stood on the platform. He held a staff with a bronze bell on the end. By tapping the bottom of the staff on the ground, the bell rang, bringing with it a silence that fell like a shadow across the crowd. Kaili looked around at the people near him. Ivy had let go of his wrist and instead had her hand on the fingers of a frankly massive hand resting on her shoulder. Following the fingers across the hand and up the arm, Kaili found himself looking at a mountain of a man that cast a silhouette far larger than he actually was, not purely because of the little girl sitting on his neck with her hands on the top of his head. Something about the man made Kaili's subconscious recoil and he found himself trying to push past someone in order to get a little space between himself and the man. _"-So tonight, we will be holding the battles in three different phases."_ Called out the old man in the centre of the wooden platform. _"The Junior League, Minor League, and Major League. Each consisting of 4 participants"_ He boomed, it felt as if it was the old man's natural speaking voice. Behind the man, Kaili could see the familiar cap and glasses of the professor moving through the crowd to step up onto the platform as well. _"The Major League has been filled by request and will be a very special show. The Minor league is for those who have participated at some level in the Island Challenge. And the Junior League is for those interested in starting the island challenge."_ The man explained. _"There will be one hour for registration, I will be speaking to the Junior league hopefuls. And our friend Professor Kukui, will be handling the Minor League."_ Kukui beamed in response, holding up both hands and seemingly trying to egg the crowd into excitement.

 _"Come now, don't be shy!"_ The old man called out to the nervously chattering crowd. _"Step up and show your stuff to the Island Guardian!"_ Kaili shrugged and pushed his way through the crowd into the clearing. Five other people stepped out of the crowd at roughly the same time. If this was about a show, the young man suspected this registration thing was to weed out those who would be most likely to suffer stage fright. Kaili and two others approached the large native man, while the three others, including a gangly man with white hair and a punk outfit, approached Kukui. _"So, you three interested in joining in the festivities?"_ The man's voice was considerably quieter, a private conversation without the appearance of any switch of strain from the talking to the crowd. _"I already know you Mr. Kaili"_ The man prodded the lad with a stubby finger. _"Kukui and my Hau told me about you. Hau will be joining too. And you two?"_ He turned his attention away quickly, receiving the others names before announcing to the crowd as if it was his normal speaking voice. _"Some encouragement for our Junior 'Leaguer's; Hau, Kaili, Pete, and Lucy! May you all have fun and put on an excellent show!"_ The man was tapped on the shoulder shortly after his announcement, and again dropped to his private voice level as Kukui listed the three Minor league participants. _"Do you still want to be fourth?"_ The man asked, to Kukui's emphatic nod. _"Okay-"_ Straight back to addressing the crowd. _"And our Minor League consists of; Kukui, Tanya, Guzma, and Joanna! This should be a wonderful display!"_ The man tapped his staff twice, waiting for the double ring to subside. _"Because registration was so quick, we'll have a brief waiting period while the duels are decided. Please, enjoy yourselves!"_

The rules were simple, as it was just for entertainment, no lethal attacks of any kind. Each junior league trainer had two pokemon and would participate in two battles. Each battle was a one-on-one and you can't use the same pokemon for both battles. Simple enough Kaili thought as he took his place as directed by the old man in charge, who had finally introduced himself as 'Hala', Hau's grandfather and Kahuna of Melemele Island. The young man made a mental note to look into what a Kahuna was later. For now he stood as one corner of a square, with old man Hala in the middle. Kaili was on Hala's left, the girl 'Lucy' was at the corner behind the man, Hau at the corner in front, and Peter on the man's right. One hard tap of the rod and the battles began. A flash of red light saw Mr. Balloon hugging the young man's head. _"Hey"_ the chuckled. _"Battle time"_ he pried the balloon's tendrils off as the girl was joined by a newly materialised tiny yellow mouse. It had red cheeks and- and- the crowd volume was slowly rising. He cannot think about it. _"Mr. Balloon, pick it up."_ he directed, and the purple balloon bobbed once before zipping over to the rodent. The girl shouted something to her pokemon, but it was already squealing in fright as it was swiftly lifted off the ground. _"Up about four meters."_ both it and the girl shrieked as Kaili said it, the resulting flash of red light signalled a quick forfeit from her. _"I wasn't going to drop it, I swear"_ Kaili called to the scowling girl as Mr. Balloon return to clasping himself onto the young man's shoulder. Hau was using the same kind of pokemon as Lucy, though his was doing considerably better as it was clinging to the back of his opponents bird and zapping it. Kaili took a moment to not the difference between that Pikipek and his own, 'Bird', before the battle was called off by Hau, claiming he didn't want to seriously hurt it. _"Our turn then Hau"_ Kaili turned to face Hau properly, as Lucy and Peter faced off. The ringing of the bell had Hau send out his little green and white feathered owl again. _"Done much training?"_ Kaili called over, grinning. What he was about to do was a gamble, especially if Hau had seen his previous victory. But he thought it might be fun to possibly win by a show of force rather than any attack. Hau called back asking in both a jolly and mocking tone if Kaili even had more than one pokemon. Wrong move. A flash of light and Kladenets, the sword, was soaring through the air, following the motion and momentum of Kaili swinging the ball, as if the pokemon himself had been thrown. The blade tip landed in the ground behind the owl, blade angled back toward Kaili so that the edge was resting atop the other pokemon's feathers without having cut it. Hau's pokemon chirped confidently and hopped forward to get some space before it turned. The problem was that as it went up in its hop, so did the sword. Kladenets swung upward, keeping a part of its hilt touching the bird at all times until the blade tip slammed into the ground again. This time the sword was in front of the bird, blade almost straight up, and edge pressed against the beak. A flash of light signalled the end of the other battle. A gasp echoed through parts of the crowd as the bird half-squawked, half-screamed and hopped backwards several times. Hau stepped back one stride and returned his bird in concern.

With a guided applause from the crowd, the four young adults left the arena and slipped back into among the people. Hau kept by Kaili's side, chattering away in the young man's ear, though Kaili couldn't hear him over the growing noise of the crowd. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, the bell rang. Despite the noise, Kaili wanted to watch the display. He turned and looked over the small children in front of him at the battles; Kukui was against a woman Kaili recognised from a photo at the school. The other pairing was two people he'd not seen before tonight. However he didn't get to see much of their battle as by the time he'd looked across it was over. The gangly man had a wicked half-grin that looked almost like a comic super-villain. He'd already turned to face Kukui, waiting clearly impatiently for his turn. When Kukui's battle was over, the pairs swapped. It was now a battle between the men, and a battle between the women. Kaili's attention was siezed by the professor's choice; an elegant blue-white fox-like creature, at least as tall as Kaili's shoulders, and with enough tails standing on end to look like a soft-serve peacock. Quickly he took a photo and threw it into google images. Apparently this was simply what the normally fire-type pokemon 'Ninetales' looked like in Alola. The other man had on his side a creature that looked like a red armoured ant fused to the stance and posture of a human, with two legs that came to sharp points and only two arms that bore vice grips comparable to the jaws of life. A quick search told Kaili that this was a 'Scizor', one of the strongest known bug pokemon. The two pokemon were slowly circling each other, showing off for the crowd? No, a stand off. When each pokemon had their backs to the opposing trainer, the scizor acted; taking two quick steps back and lunging for Kukui! Kukui's pokemon raced to his defence, leaping at its opponent foolishly. The red bug stopped mid-leap, balancing on one foot as its left claw flicked up to grab the blue-white fox's throat. The two spun together to the ground, the orders of their trainers indiscernible to the crowd about the roar of excitement of the people. The second claw pushed the fox's muzzle away as it began to release a torrent of icy wind at it, the new direction of the wind threatening to strike the crowd. The bell rang out but the pincer pokemon didn't stop, one of its feet was digging into the fox's writhing stomach as its vice was clamping down on its throat. Hala rang the bell again and took a step toward the Scizor's trainer only to be threatened with another pokeball. The crowd was shouting and simultaneously surging forward and holding itself back. The only sound Kaili was certain everyone heard was an ear piercing whistle. The young man looked over at its source; the massive man standing with Ivy and Mari. From this angle he could properly see the man's face, there was a photo of that face at the school. Ryan Cabberin simply stared at the attacking trainer before glancing at three other places in the crowd. The white haired man followed the teacher's gaze and froze a moment before shrugging and returning his pokemon. The gangly man didn't stop smiling as he pocketed his balls and strode through the crowd and out of sight.

It took several minutes for the crowd to calm down. Watching Kukui care for his pokemon before returning it to its ball shook some people. During the calming, Hala had disappeared into the crowd, leaving his staff standing in the middle of the arena. When he returned he was followed by two women. A young woman not much older than Kaili and wearing what was clearly sportswear, and a slightly older and more buxom lady with shortcut hair and an obvious appreciation for her own body. Hala picked up the staff, tapping it against the ground once, silence echoed after the ringing, as if the bell could cut through panic and discussion to seize attention. _"I think we can all agree that we have been treated to some amazing battles tonight! With the one exception of disregard for the rules. The guardian is very pleased"_ He announced with a large grin, arms up in a Y shape. _"I have spoken to the Major League participants however, and bear some news."_ The old man took on a solemn expression again. _"All four Major League participants have withdrawn in unison. They fear any 1 on 1 between them could cause serious damage to our fair town, even if they held back considerably."_ The crowds murmuring rose sharply, before being cut off by another ring of the bell. _"Thankfully, these two ladies; Kahuna Olivia of Akala Island-"_ He motioned to the buxom woman, who bowed and waved to the crowd. _"- and previous island challenge champion; Kahili-"_ The other woman simply nodded, her right hand resting in the air as if she was use to leaning on something. _"Have offered to each give us a demonstration of their pokemon. A round of applause if you will."_ Hala cheered and strode out of the ring, stopping to stand with Hau not far from Kaili.

The two women looked at each other before Olivia stepped back, bequeathing the stage to the lady 'Kahili'. Kaili found it a strange sensation to hear a name so similar to his own, having chosen his name so that it would be unique. The woman was wearing short light blue pants and a light blue vest over a white shirt. Her hair was tucked up under a cap and her face was slightly angular and sharp. She held up a blue topped pokeball with red clamps on it. The ball shook and the pokemon appeared, not in a flash of red light, but in a swirling cloud of golden sparks. It was a huge bird, large enough that he was sure the woman could easily sit on its back. It had a tuft of white feathers behind its head and facial plumage like an Indian headdress. The feathers on its underside was black as the night around them and the feathers on its back were a deep beautiful blue. It gave this shimmer to the night around it. A great presence you wanted to look at despite every fibre of your being screaming for you to not. It was wrong, she was wrong, but the display was amazing. It rose high into the sky, and though no-one looked up it was as if everyone could feel where it was. Some people moved uneasily as it plummeted back down, spiralling in a circle the size of the crowd. Faster and faster it fell until it swooped over the heads of the crowd and shot toward the center, stopping within arms reach of its trainer, with her hand on its beak giving it a gentle pat. The bird exploded into a shower of golden sparks, like a firework at arms reach, and was gone. The lady Kahili bowed once to the crowds applause, an applause Kaili couldn't help but join as he could not bring himself to look at her again.

Olivia sauntered into the arena as Kahili left. Behind her walked three pokemon that were human in shape but grey skinned and each possessed four arms. With Olivia standing off of the wooden platform, the three pokemon lifted the structure up and over their heads, carrying it over the crowd and out of the way. Only dirt remain in the empty space the crowd was all watching excitedly. Olivia pulled from her bra a black pokeball. It had three golden rings that each had a thinner red ring inside them. Stopping in the middle of the clearing she dropped the ball at her feet, pressing it into the dirt with her heel. _"Don't be afraid"_ she smiled, looking around at the crowd. Kaili didn't see any fear, only curiosity and fascination. Several people he could see looked almost dazzled at the woman's appearance, others seemed slightly nervous about the slight shaking the ground had begun to demonstrate. With all the energy of a magician and the fluidity of the maestro of an orchestra, Olivia flicked her left hand up. A giant red-gold gemstone stalactite burst out of the ground on her left. It was as round as a car and at least as long as one resting on its bumper. A flick of her right hand had the same result on her right side. The lady laughed and spun, a small pirouette with her hands out as thousands of little gemstone spikes erupted from around her, each one as wide as a finger but reaching as high as her shoulders. They formed a circle around her with their points angled away from her. She stopped, hands in a Y shape above her. Olivia brought her hands down over herself and dropping to her knees as the crowd watched in horror as the giant gemstones fell on her, the smaller ones changing angle to create a shell around her as the whole lot; trainer and all, were pulled under the ground. As the crowd began to shout in concern, the ground at the centre gave way, dirt pouring in as a hole seemed to form. But instead of a pit opening up, the woman simply rose as if on an elevator. The ground stabilised under her feet when she was fully out. And she reached down to pick up the black pokeball and stow it in her bra. One final bow nearly deafened the young man with the resulting roar of the crowd.

While the crowd was busy cheering the two women who had returned to the centre of the space after the arena was replaced by the big four-armed pokemon, Kaili was being dragged away by a very excited Hau. The boy led Kaili into the largest structure in the 'town', where Hala, Kukui, and the two other Junior league trainers were waiting. _"Well, You're all here, we can get started"_ Hala said, smiling as Kukui fetched a small suitcase-like box from the table nearby. _"The Guardian pokemon was so pleased with tonight's festivities, that it has seen fit to bestow on us four special stones."_ Kukui opened the case, showing off a set of rings each with a sparkling gemstone fitted into it.

 _"These are Z-Rings, they are used to unleash the full force of a pokemon in a single all-out attack. Oh Yeah!"_ Kukui grinned, holding his own out so the teens and Kaili could see it. _"They are the mark of someone who is currently or at least once, undertook the island challenge."_ Hala nodded, seemingly happy to let Kukui handle this. _"and there is one here for each of ya's if you want them, cousin."_ Kaili and Hau moved at the same time, each snatching one of the rings, while the two others looked nervous and backed up slightly.

 _"That's okay"_ Hala stepped back up. _"Iki town thanks you for participating in the festival. You have no obligation to undertake this task"_ He nodded to the two teens, who thanked him before backing out of the building. _"You two, will also need these"_ The old man held out a pair of strange items that Kaili felt looked like a mix of a Keychain and a Dream catcher. _"Hau, my boy, already knows about it. But for you Kaili. This is a totem that you are to wear during your island challenge. It designates you as a trial participant."_ Kaili nodded, taking his and attaching it to his bag. _"In the island challenge you undertake a number of trials on each island. When you've finished all the basic trials on an island you then undertake the grand trial wherein you battle the islands Kahuna. Here on Melemele, you need only do one trial at Verdant cavern, and then the Grand trial here in Iki town. I look forward to seeing you boys again soon."_


	7. Chapter 6

Stepping out of the large building, Kaili was once again face to face with the festival crowd. However, now that the battles were over, most people were simply milling about enjoying the atmosphere. A smaller grey pokemon, the same shade and with similar markings to those that lifted the arena momentarily, was on its knees cleaning the wooden platform. The young man sighed as all he could think of while watching the creature was 'wax on', 'wax off'. It was apparent as he glanced around, that most people ignored the small pokemon. This was likely a common occurance, or even the pokemon's job perhaps. The young man's left hand had grabbed his head without his realising, trying to squeeze the pain out as the crowds volume rose steadily. It was clear that some people were arriving, but others were leaving at the same time. He could not assume this was the general noise, particularly when he paid attention and caught what seemed to be echoes of statements. Shaking his head, Kaili made for the southern exit from the town.

From the top of the stairs between the tiers Kaili could see the south entrance. Six people were standing around talking. He recognised Ivy and Mari immediately, as well as their enormous father. A woman with a streak of green hair was looking into town impatiently, tapping her foot with one eyebrow raised. The other two were a little girl, by height about 8 years old, whom Kaili had seen sitting on the mans shoulders earlier, and a boy who was obscured between the two adults. _"Clay!"_ The father called out. A young man slightly taller and considerably tougher looking than Kaili looked over from in town. _"Come on, lets go"_ The man nodded his head like a gesture to leave. 'Clay' smiled at the girl he was talking to and gently took back his phone before trotting over to the family. Kaili leant against the railing of the stairs, waiting for the crowd-clot to pass before himself leaving the town. Being so close to the burning brazier made him easy for Ivy to spot. She smiled wide and began waving excitedly as if trying to get his attention. The young man lifted one hand in acknowledgement, which seemed to only encourage her. She called something out, the man beside her shaking his head. Kaili couldn't hear her over the noise of the crowd, but wasn't going to approach what was clearly a hornets nest waiting to attack him. A rippling shadow appeared behind the father, from which stepped a human-like pokemon. It was about one and a half meters tall and seemed to wear a black and white dress. Four large black discs stemmed from either side of its teardrop head. As it outstretched its hands, each of the seven people reached out and touched it. Then, as if Kaili had simply blinked, the crowd was gone.

A hand patted Kaili on the back. Looking around he noticed at first the bare chest before seeing the open lab coat and grinning face of Professor Kukui. The grinning man spoke in a jumble of a thousand voices. Kaili could make out a few scattered words that came up often enough; _"Lab"_ , _"Gift"_ , _"Cousin"_ , and _"Pokemon"_. The young man shook his head, only exacerbating the noise bombarding him. Again he was patted on the back, and Kukui's laugh rippled through his head. Pulling his bag off, Kaili ripped out the small bottle and removed a single pill. He didn't even bother with any water, simply forcing himself to swallow the pill so he could stow the bottle back in the bag before Kukui could grab it from him. _"You okay Kaili?"_ _"Feeling better, Cousin?"_ Kukui's many thousands of voices calmed down enough that the teen could make out a couple questions. He nodded, noticing he was breathing a little heavy and intentionally calming himself down. _"Come on Cousin, lets get to the lab!"_ The hand on his back guided him to a slight walk. _"Don't worry, Lillie is already there."_ The professor smiled, handing Kaili a helmet before gesturing to possibly the silliest thing the young man had ever seen. A Vespa covered in woodland camo. He scoffed before he could stop himself. _"Yeah I know, but its fun, hop on cousin!"_ The older man clipped his helmet on and hopped onto the chubby scooter/motorbike. Knowing he wouldn't quit, Kaili relented and put the helmet on and mounted the bike. He had to admit to himself at least during the trip, the vespa was suprisingly sturdy with all the ledges the professor was bouncing down.

Kaili had been to the lab before, but the decrepid nature of it never failed to impress. The building was little more than a beachside shack that looked like it was falling apart. Hau and Kaili had worked for a while setting up the loft above the office for Lillie's use the night before. _"Right! So I have a second favour to ask."_ kukui said, passing Kaili in the entrance and leaning over the computer desk, not touching the apparently brand new(and cobweb covered) computer chair. _"It finally arrived and I want it to see the Island challenge. Figured you'd be a good bet because of your two pokemon already, cousin."_ The man laughed, opening a file on the computer. The computer buzzed, and the main light in the room flickered a couple times. _"It's a rotom. Come on out!"_ He called around the room, focusing on looking in the area of the now brighter-than-usual lightbulb. _"It's an electric/ghost pokemon, famous for being able to possess appliances."_ An electrical surge shot across the room to the computer, which now displayed a very simple anime-esc face on the whole monitor. _"There you are buddy! I got that pokedex you like, the problem is convincing Kaili to take it if you want to go on the island challenge."_ The man smiled. The young man however, sighed. So this was why he was nagging.

 _"It possesses appliances?"_ He asked.

 _"Sure do!"_ The face on the monitor replied. _"Mr. Professor ordered a custom made pokedex that looks like my appliance-possessed forms."_ It smiled and the monitor sparked.

 _"What about mobile phones? Possessed any of them?"_

It thought for a moment before what must have been a bolt of lightning shot from the screen to the young man's pocket. _"A tight squeeze but it'll work. Nice to meet you Kaili"_

 _"Nice to meet you too Siri"_

 _"Okay"_ It responded in a distinctly robotic voice. _"I will now call you 'Silly'"_

The young man chuckled, pulling the phone out of his pocket and looking at the face on its screen. _"Keep that up and I might put you in a zip file"_ He mock-threatened, watching as a little zipper replaced the mouth on the face. _"I see you're not going to take any shit."_ The face moved side to side. _"Right, no zip files."_ The zipper disappeared.


	8. Chapter 7

_"Hello Sir"_ The woman behind the counter smiled sweetly, her head tilting to the left. _"I am the pokemon center nurse"_ She continued, with the same perky, kind tone. _"I am here to help. This message is being delivered in English because your passport, which was scanned when you entered, is from Unova."_ She nodded once, blankly staring at or maybe through Kaili. _"If you would like to change this setting, just say so. If English is sufficient, we welcome you to Alola. The pokemon center is here to help."_ The young man shrugged and placed his three pokeballs on the counter. _"I will take your pokeballs for a moment, to heal your pokemon. You will be able to see them at all times, no harm will come to them."_ The 'woman' bowed slightly and the pokeballs were grabbed by three long mechanical arms from behind the counter. They looked almost like the claws of those skill-tester games, long and spindly with only three prongs each. The machines placed the pokeballs into a tray that was slid into a football shaped device with a large glass viewing window.

Kaili turned and leant against the counter, his elbows supporting much of his weight. _"Amenities?"_ He asked, looking around the room from his position.

 _"Certainly sir"_ With his back to the woman it was easier to tell the actual source of the voice as a small speaker somewhere on the counter behind him. _"The pokemon center toilet facilities are through the door beside the counter to your left. We also provide free shower services."_ Kaili nodded as the message continued. His wandering eyes finally noticed a set of tables with cushioned bar seating arranged in stalls along the wall around the entrance. _"While food is not provided for free by the pokemon center, locations to eat are. You may stay as long as you wish provided the station you are staying is kept clean."_ One of the tables was lower than the rest, pushed down into the floor slightly so that the edges of the table and the edges of the seats aligned. A man was laying on the table with a blanket pulled up over him. _"Please note, this Hologram is not able to leave the counter area and so cannot render any assistance in case of human accident or injury."_ Kaili smiled and turned away from the man as the mechanical hands returned the three pokeballs to the counter beside him. _"Thank you for waiting! We've restored your Pokémon to full health."_ The woman bowed again as the arms lowered to behind the counter. _"We hope to see you again."_

With pokeballs back in his pocket, Kaili strolled back out into Hau'oli city. The sun had long set, but the people didn't seem to care. Across the road from the pokemon center was a railing to stop people accidentally falling down the three meter drop the sand below. Umbrellas were still set up despite the lack of sun, and many people were happily playing in the water. Large palm trees swayed gently in the breeze all over town. Kaili tapped a random pokeball, in a flash of red light he was joined by his Pikipek 'bird', who chirped and happily sat on his shoulder.

Outside a window, several buildings away, Kaili noticed the familiar large brimmed white hat and blonde hair of Lillie. She was staring at the outfit on a mannequin inside the store. Just, standing there. She didn't react to Kaili's approach, only jumping slightly when he asked if she was window shopping. _"K-Kaili!"_ the lass turned away from the window, shaking her head quickly. _"No- I was just- I mean I wasn't- I..."_ Her face was so pale Kaili was concerned she was about to faint, before the colour started to slowly return to her cheeks. _"So uhh, do you pick out your own clothes Kaili?"_ She asked, turning back to the window. A cursory sweep of the store showed warm weather clothes, all shorts or tshirts, dresses etc. No longsleeve clothes. _"Stupid question, of course you do. Everyone does don't they..."_ The young man could clearly hear her biting into the bitterness of her own tone. _"I- I've just always worn what my mother has told me to."_ He didn't know what she was looking at, but chances were it wasn't actually in the store. _"I don't really know what kind of thing would suit me..."_ And Kaili didn't know how to respond, he simply put his hand on the top of her back very gently, like when he would comfort the kids. _"Now that I'm out I'm going to have to find out won't I?"_

A sudden noise snatched Kaili's attention away. It was somewhere in the area of a scream or a shout. Maybe a screech? Looking over, Kaili saw a young boy pressed up against a wire mesh fence in what looked like a public garden. The problem however, was in front of the boy. The fence was between the boy and Kaili, and the boy was between Kaili and what at first looked like static on a television screen. The young man ignored the gasps around him as his right leg lurched forward and his body leant into the stride. He may have accidentally pushed Lillie as he began sprinting but it didn't matter. The thing had slowed enough for him to properly see it. It was at least 2 and a half meters tall. At first he thought it had bronze scales until he had swung around the gate and saw its feathers properly. _"HEY"_ He shouted, kicking a stick he's stopped at at the massive bird. The boy on the other side of it was pinned into the corner of the fence and cowering on the ground as this thing bent over him. Its head turned in sharp jerking motions. The beak was twice as long as the single crest on its head, and its screech somehow shook Kaili's arms and upper body. It lunged toward the new adversary, the green underside of its feathers like a storm of razor leaves shooting at him.

As it swooped in, Kaili ducked under and sprinted across to the boy. Not bothering to try and say anything, the young man just grabbed the boys shoulder and pulled him with, putting himself between the teen and the bird as they raced to the gate. Kaili felt a sharp cutting pain as the creatures wing clipped him, slicing straight through his shirt and leaving a gash in the scales on his arm. He pushed the boy away and turned to face the thing, standing his ground even as the crowd shouted for him to keep running. As it turned to face him, its wings spread fully and sliced right through the brickwork of the adjacent building. The shadow of a hole in the wall higher in Kaili's peripheral vision explained where it came from. As it swiped its wing at Kaili, Bird dove in and bashed the wing from on top, knocking it away before it could strike the young man. The act of bringing its wing back up was almost like a backhanded slap; knocking the tiny bird away and hard into the wall. Immediately, Kaili tapped all three of his pokeballs. Bird disappeared and Mr. Balloon instead appeared beside his trainer. With sword in hand, Kaili shouted _"Distract it!"_ But even Mr balloon stood no chance. A single swipe of its wing slammed the balloon away as the deathmachine stepped up to the young man. Wings spread and posture straight it screeched at him again. In the wake of the noise Kladenets shook and Kaili's arms strained.

Despite the sudden pain, the young man was able to angle the sword just in time to knock away the creature's wing. At first he had hoped to catch this thing, but now he'd just be happy for all of them to survive. Kaili dropped to his knees and swung the sword left wildly, avoiding one wing and deflecting the other. Even his best parries allowed the creatures feathers to cut at his shirt, slowly slicing it to ribbons on him. He could faintly hear his backpack unzipping between swipes but couldn't do anything. He was on his ass on the grass, Kladenets in hand with his feet in front of him and his back to the gate as it began pecking violently down at him. It was all he could do to attack the side of the falling beaks to keep them away from him, as a direct block could well destroy Kladenets. Suddenly, the creature vanished in a blast of red light, leaving Kaili sitting there staring at Mr. Balloon floating in front of him holding a shaking pokeball. _"Drop it!"_ He shouted, tapping Kladenets and Mr. Balloon's pokeballs and scrambling out of the garden as they disappeared. The young man staggered away backward, watching the pokeball, ready for the creature to burst forth and resume its rampage. But it didn't. It simply sat there, the little display flashing some text he couldn't read from this distance.

Slowly he inched closer to the garden, a loose crowd had formed around the area, watching with baited breath. A man nearby was comforting the boy but Kaili didn't pay them any mind. His right foot lifted to move forward, his left slid unenthusiastically behind. Slowly he got close enough to see what was flashing on the ball. 'Danger!' The banner text slid across the display. No shit. 'Level 50!' The next line slid along as Kaili was close enough to reach down and grab it. 'Danger!' It began repeating until the fingers closed around it. The moment his hand was around the ball, Kaili was no longer in that dangerous place. At that was worse than being there. For a moment he was standing by the road, accepting a pokeball from some guy in a lab coat. Then he was picking up a rock with one hand and his other on a pokeball. Holding a pokeball as a woman snatched a keyring from him. Then he was standing on the beach, a giant red light in front of the pokeball in his outstreched hand, as if he was still catching the pokemon that was as big as a bus. A small non-red shape was in the light, and while the strange vision was frozen in time, Kaili reached out and took it. Then he was sitting by the water with a fishing rod while holding the pokeball. Sitting in the small garden peacefully with the pokeball. And a couple of these images repeated themselves. But when he found himself staring at the pokeball flashing 'Danger!', he could feel a weight in his other hand. He was holding a strange item, like a sculpture of an applecore. _"What the-"_

After stuffing the weird item into his pants pocket, Kaili quickly typed into the pokeball 'Deathmachine'. The boy had run back over to him, Kaili now had a chance to get a good look at him. The teen was maybe 15? Had short brown hair and blue eyes with freckles beneath them. The few cuts the teen had were already covered and he was smiling happily at Kaili. What caught Kaili's eye was the man behind him, again. The man Kaili knew as Ryan Cabberin offered his hand and introduced himself. _"And this is my youngest son, Flint."_ He patted the boy on the shoulder, standing behind him. _"Thank you for that, I'm just annoyed I couldn't get here in time to handle it myself."_ He nodded to the pokeball in Kaili's hand. _"He means the world to me, so if there's anything I can do for you, just ask."_ He smiled, though his head tilted and his tone got serious for a second. _"And I don't say that lightly, You did me a favour. So I owe you a favour."_ Before perking up and excusing himself, leading his son away and leaving Kaili standing confused and holding a black hole in an M&M case.


	9. Chapter 8

Kaili slunk away from the crowd as quickly as he regained his senses. He stumbled down a quiet alley with a single shape at the end of it. The man sitting at the fence overlooking the water had the strangest silhouette; A rotund torso with a large brimmed hat. As the young man drew closer, it became clear that the hat was made of some form of woven bark in a circular pattern with six extensions. The man was sitting with his legs through the fence and his arms atop the main railing, looking out. _"I- Hear"_ The voice was staggered and broken. _"Hear you there."_ the voice didn't sound right, as if it was struggling for words but speaking fluently at the same time.

 _"Excuse me?"_ Kaili raised his right eyebrow as his head lowered to the right, standing straight but ready to run.

 _"I know you"_ The man turned to look at him, green eyes hollow and unfocused, blonde hair cut strangely and right half of his mouth smiling.

 _"Are you okay?"_

 _"I am well, thank you."_ The voice was suddenly normal, no shake and no hesitation. _"My name is-"_ The eyes unfocused again and Kaili had this uneasy feeling of looking at a mannequin or statue painted perfectly before the man continued as if no time had passed. _"- Mohn"_

 _"Yeah... Glad to meet ya"_ The young man stepped back, something about this man set him on edge.

 _"Glad- ?"_ The man spaced again before suddenly looking around almost terrified. _"Where am I?"_ Kaili's hand moved immediately to a pokeball on his belt. _"I have to find my family! Why did you bring me here?! This isn't-"_ The mans eyes went hollow again and his shoulders drooped as his mouth hung open. The man suddenly perked up again, smiling almost warmly as if nothing was wrong. Kaili wasn't sure which pokeball he was holding out, but his arm shook slightly as he gripped it. _"Don't be afraid kiddo!"_ he man laughed once. _"You're a trainer? Here."_ He dug around in his pockets and pulled out some lint covered beans. _"They're pokebeans. It's okay, they're popular here in Alola, just ask at the cafe's."_ Kaili didn't lower the pokeball as he reached out with his left hand to pluck the beans from the strangers outstretched hand. _"Pokemon love them- love-"_ His excitement drained away again as his eyes seemed to stare straight through the young man. _"Pokemon- Love- Facility- Ocean-"_ His head tilted as it turned to look out to see. _"Thats what- I need to do. Facility for pokemon. On an island. At sea."_ The man turned back to face Kaili. _"Will you- help me?"_ The last two words didn't match the first, the tone was excited and then terrified and desperate. His eyes were scanning the young man as if seeing someone else.

 _"Y-Yeah okay."_ The man perked up immediately, snatching the pokeball out of Kaili's hand in the motion of a handshake.

 _"Thank you young man! I saw you-"_ The little display on the ball read 'Deathmachine'

 _"Wait no!"_ Kaili's arm reached out quickly to snatch the ball back but it was too late, a flash of red light and the great bronze bird was standing near them. It dashed forward... Only for the man Mohn to grab its head almost gingerly, petting its beak and smiling at it.

 _"Oh aren't you beautiful!"_ He laughed, the creature seeming to calm down the moment the fat hands touched it. _"What's his name?"_

 _"Uhh, Deathmachine?"_

 _"Beautiful."_ He smiled, looking over with a complete expression again. _"Can I borrow him?"_ Stunned, the young man nodded. _"Thank you. My number is 04 91 570 156"_ He nodded, _"And yours?"_ Kaili repeated his phone number in a stunned stamour, certain that the man would forget it instantly. _"Thank you"_ Mohn smiled, eyes half glazed as he climbed upon the birds back. And as if he'd always flown on such things, they were off, flying out across the sea into the night.

 _"What the actual fuck."_

 _"I don't even know what to think about what just happened"_ A little voice from Kaili's pocket broke the growing silence. _"Was that guy as creepy in person as he sounded"_ Kaili shook his head, turning and leaving the alley to a side of the city he'd not been. _"Are we just not going to talk about it."_

 _"Yeah, sounds good"_ The young man replied, ignoring the little voices one and only protest as he continued down the street. Ahead he could see a familiar smiling face and exuberant flailing arm. The boy Hau was standing outside a well lit, diner-like building. The sign atop the roof bore the face of some weird foreign pokemon with fluffy pink hair. In the distance, near the seaside cliff on this side of town, Kaili could see a collection of kids in black shirts with beanies milling around. _"Hi Hau"_ He nodded as the other young man ran up to him. As the excited boy opened his mouth to speak, Kaili raised a single finger and cut him off. _"Before that, do you know what these are?"_ He held out the colourful beans the man had given him.

 _"Yeah, they're Pokebeans. Pokemon love them."_ He said quickly and almost dismissively, eager to get to his own topic. _"Kaili! Have you ever had Malasada?"_ The look said it all. _"Oh they're amazing! Warm doughy bread filled with custard and chocolate and Haupia and deep friend and covered with sugar and-"_ Both of Kaili's eyebrows raised as the boy drooled throughout his tyrade.

 _"So... They're custard or jelly filled doughnuts?"_ Hau nodded excitedly, grabbing his wallet out and offering to buy his new friend some. _"Uhh, no thank you. I much prefer burritos. Not any of them around here are there?"_ The tanned kids's eyebrows furrowed as he thought so hard the young man could see he cogs turning. Eventually he shook his head and apologised. _"It's cool, You go enjoy yourself, I'm going to look around some more."_

At the cliff, one of the teens in black slapped his friends shoulder and pointed at Kaili when the other looked. Kaili simply sighed and shook his head, rubbing the painful scales in this lower back before turning and walking down another side street. No-one had told him where the first trial was, how was he suppose to find it? Or was the first trial simply finding the second? Partway down the street he could hear the shuffling of feet approaching behind him. Over his shoulder he spotted the two teens drawing nearer and nearer to him. The first, again, slapped his companions shoulder with his nearest hand. _"Yo, J, you seen this guy around before?"_ His friend shrugged and shook his head, a small bubble of gum forming in front of his mouth. _"Ye, me neither. Reckon he knows how Team Skull runs the place?"_ The bubble popped, and the friends lower lip raised without pouting as he shook his head. _"Yo Kid!-"_ Kaili's facial muscles were completely relaxed; his eyelids slightly drooped and his lips unmoving. _"Woah, Looks kinda like Uncle Nanu eh J?"_ The other nodded again, looking from Kaili to his friend. The one doing all the talking looked no older than 16, the other maybe 15, maybe. 'J's black tank top had a spattering of loose fur like dander on the left shoulder while his companion stood on his right. _"Hey, you gunna talk punk?"_ Kaili shrugged, making note of the bandana's tucked into their belts, obscuring their pokeballs. _"You wanna fight? Aight, lets do this!"_

'J' stepped forward, tucking the black hair hanging down to his cheek behind his ears. His friend took a couple steps backward, grabbing the bandana and covering his mouth. The pattern looked like a cartoonish skull jaw plastered over sir-talkalots face. The one Kaili only knew as 'J', drew a pokeball from under his own belt-bandana and began swinging his hands strangely, as if both copying a B-grade rapper and trying to obscure the position of his pokeball before pressing the fists to his hips with elbows out as if making the eyes of a skull. His right hand then raised and turned with the palm facing skyward as his pokemon appeared in a flash of red light. _"Cute"_ Kaili scoffed before looking at the creature. A little black rat with long whiskers and slightly pointed ears and a cream coloured underbody. It sniffed up at the air at the two before trying its hardest to snarl at Kaili. The young man bit his upper lip and closed his eyes as he turned his head, determined not to laugh. They were trying their best. _"So uhh, should I play fair or play to win?"_ he hid a smirk as he waited. The teen looked insulted before glancing over his shoulder at his friend, the name on his collar becoming clear in the turn before he looked back. Kaili shrugged. _"To win then."_ He was almost tempted to do a showmanship reveal as well, but figured that it might just insult these kids a little too much, so he tapped a pokeball and grabbed the flash of light as it materialised into Kladenets. _"I do have some others, but I'm pretty sure this guy can't lose."_ the tip of the blade pressed into the ground as Kaili leant on the hilt, waiting for his opponent to begin. Mr talkative started to argue. _"How is it cheating? A pokemon battle, two pokemon. Just because it's unfair doesn't mean its cheating."_ The right of his mouth raised in a smirk. The rat ran forward, the sword hilt spun around Kaili's arm, to slam its blade into the ground near the nose of the little creature. _"I reckon I could win the next thirty fights with this one move alone."_ The rat jumped before scurrying back to its owner and up his leg to sit on his shoulder. 'J' tapped the pokeball to the little creatures chest and after the flash, returned it to his belt. After some pressing, 'J' managed to drag his friend away.

Kaili was still leaning on the sword when a boy his own age with bright pink hair approached him. _"I missed you at the Trainers school, Name's Captain Ilima."_ Kaili nodded by raising his head, withdrawing his pokemon. _"I must admit, I've been interested in you since I saw you at the festival. Kukui brought you along didn't he?"_ Kaili nodded, he didn't swing that way but he didn't have to be rude either. _"It's a pity we didn't get to see our teacher fight at the festival. He's really good."_ The young man shrugged, asking what the next step was. _"Ah! You'll want to take on my trial. It's not far, about an hours walk north of here on the west side of the island."_ He smiled, clearly proud of himself. _"Place called 'Verdant Cave'. Shall I show you there in the morning?"_ Kaili shook his head.

 _"No thanks, if it's all the same I'd rather head up now."_ The pink haired boy seemed to get quite flustered and nervous.

 _"How about we uhh, have a pokemon battle tonight instead, there's no rush for the trial, you can do it tomorrow."_ Kaili smiled almost wickedly, feigning a humm of thoughtfulness.

 _"Noooooo, I think I'd rather do it sooner. I prefer nighttime after all."_ He nodded slowly, looking around. _"Though I may stop in at the pokemon center first to grab some medicine so my pokemon don't get too hurt. An hours walk you say? See you in two."_ He smiled, walking past the boy back to the pokemon center. He stopped in an alley and turned to watch the pink hair sprinting frantically away northward.


	10. Chapter 9

'Melemele Island' the large sign near the northern gate of Hau'oli city read. The sign bore an overhead map of the island, with a selection of little dots representing points of interest. 'Hau'oli city' was a large red dot with small text under its title, simply reading 'You are here'. Northward were 'Melemele Motel', 'Hau'oli Cemetary', 'Big wave beach' and around the north side was a small dot labelled 'Verdant Cavern'. As Kaili's finger touched the point to trace the shortest path to Hau'oli City, suddenly the sign was bathed in flickering red and orange light. He could hear screaming behind him and gunshots. Slowly, so as not to draw attention if he was just imagining it, the young man turned his head to look at the carnage behind him. Pokemon were fighting in the street and men in black clothes were waving guns at those who were trying to hide in alleys. A helicopter overhead drew his attention up, and to a massive white funnel of light in the sky... and as suddenly as it had begun, it ended, and everything was normal again. No guns, no helicopters, no fire or strange lights. People were happily walking around talking in the cool night air. Taking a quick breath, Kaili lifted his bag and immediately set off past the sign, not daring turn around. Afraid people had seen him looking at things that were not there. The bitumen gave way at a hard seem to a well trodden dirt road. The tiretracks were hardened mud and didn't go far on the even ground before they were forced to take up a mudslide ramp. A drunk girl was passed out at the base of the ramp on the right hand side, and a worried, very inebriated man was standing on the left looking into the small grassy yard to the left of the ramp. The section was bordered on all sides by cliffs, some leading up to the top of the ramp, and some down to the sea. The only way for something to enter or leave the small area was the space where the man stood, glancing quickly from the girl to the grass. _"Not a good place to hide a corpse"_ Kaili scoffed jokingly at the man, before laughing harder at the confused and terrified expression.

 _"D'a See th?"_ The man pointed into the grass. Glancing past him, Kaili couldn't see much but slightly rustling grass at the other end of the area. _"Is a pkmn!"_ The man whispered, glancing from the young man to the unconcious woman. _"Thnk itll tack us if I mv?"_ The voice was slurred and seemed to echo very slightly in the young man's head, but he could make out the nervousness and genuine worry.

 _"I'll keep an eye on it"_ Kaili nodded, the man thanked him profusely before stumbling away slightly. When Kaili turned back to glance at the grass, the rustling had moved half the distance to the edge in the short time, and it was still racing toward him. As quick as he could, the young man ran his fingers across the three pokeballs in one swift motion. Kladenets in hand, he planted his back foot and stood ready as the small creature leaped out of the grass at him. It looked maybe like a large yellow dumpling with arms. Its eyes were triangles and its lips pursed tight as it writhed in the air. It arms and two tiny feet flailed wildly. Wrapped around the creature's shoulders were a pair of long purple-black vines. In the air above the yellow thing, sat a grinning balloon, which bobbed occassionally, shaking the poor creature it clung to. Another small flying creature was making itself known as well, a blur of red and white in the black of the night, 'Bird' pecked furiously around the creatures face as it struggled to swat it away. _"That'll do you two"_ The young man chuckled to himself, waving his left hand so the fingers went up faster than down but not side to side. _"Drop him back off at the other end of the grass"_ Bird landed on Kaili's shoulder with a metallic clunk, while Mr. Balloon happily just drifted away and let go of the struggling yellow thing a full two and a half meters off the ground. _"Come on."_ He nodded up the hardened mud ramp. _"Onwards!"_ Bird fluttered ahead, sitting on a railing at the top of the cliff beside the ramp, its head tilted to the side as it watched the trainer slowly working his way up. Kaili's legs struggled to move that far, and the creaking of his scales made the movement painful to both his legs and his ears.

Up the ramp the road continued. A smaller road, maybe just a path, rejoined the road on the right, coming down from a small forest. Along this right path, Mr. Balloon bobbed happily. _"Oh? What's that? Little timmy fell down a well?"_ the young man teased as the purple pokemon turned. It opened its mouth and let out a short squeal, like when the neck of a balloon lets the air escape. _"Were you the one that dropped him down there?"_ Kaili's head tilted with a smirk, almost laughing at the next squeal before Mr. Balloon turned himself upside down with his tendrils hanging on either side of its body. _"Okay okay. Lead the way."_ The Balloon righted itself and squealed in a more excited tone, before bobbing up the right path into the forest. Shaking his head, Kaili returned Kladenets to its pokeball and followed, Bird sitting on his shoulder chirping along the way. It turned out, in fact, that the path led to Hau'oli Cemetery. A section of the forest clearing was opened up, filled with rows of gravestones that led down a gentle slope into a large cave in the mountainside. _"Oh I get it"_ The young man nodded, watching the Balloon charge and bump into another, slightly smaller balloon before both bobbed and whistled at each other. _"Wait, did you really float all the way over the mountain to the other side of the island?"_ The balloon ignored him, instead bouncing off the sides of several more of its brethren who had drifted up out of the cave. After a minute of the purple creature simply playing with its fellows, it finally bobbed back to the young man, who'se shoulder it once again wrapped tendrils around before letting out another small squeal. The responding squeal of at least fifteen of these bobbing balloons echoed painfully in the young man's ear, but once it died down, they thankfully drifted away to do whatever it is they wanted to do.

The young man glaced around, mentally counting the few people nearby. Before he turned right he heard a familiar voice, a quiet voice far off, repeating the same words a thousand times. A garbled mess of laughs and jumbled words. And deep in the recessess of the voices, the young man could almost hear screaming. But he forced himself not to listen, forcing the voices down into the quiet of the lingering effect of the pill as he finally noticed Ivy. She was sitting on the grass not far away, not even looking up at him, simply smiling at a gravestone. _"I should go now. Everyone will be finished shopping"_ She smiled, hand outstreched to almost pat the stone. _"I'll be back again next week, okay! I'll make sure Flint comes too"_ She dug around in her pocket, pulling out some small brown biscuits shaped like tiny, flat, cartoony bones. _"We all miss you"_ She quietly lay the biscuits at the base of the stone. While they didn't look particularly impressive, Kaili could smell the treats even ten meters away. He didn't move, if he walked away it might insult her, if he spoke up it might embarress her. So he waited silently, seven times prior he had walked into such a hornets nest, and nothing worked better than waiting. _"Hi Kaili"_ She smiled, hopping up onto her feet easily _"Sorry about that, I did see you come in"_ She smiled, tears simply sitting on her gentle cheeks. She smiled and poked the balloon which swung rhythmically, happily tethered to Kaili's shoulder.

 _"Are you off to the trial at Verdant Cavern?"_ Kaili nodded, wondering to himself how she knew where the trial was. _"Oh! Can I come watch?"_ Strange thing to ask, but he shrugged, seeing no problem in it. _"Oh, but I have to get back, Mom and Daddy will be wondering whats keeping me."_ Her lower lip crept up as her head hung low. _"I want to be a trainer"_ She sighed, before perking up again. _"Only two years until I'm 18 though!"_ The young man couldn't stop his eyebrow raising. _"I wanna catch and play with lots of pokemon. Puffles is so much fun to play with"_ Kaili had to conciously keep himself from smirking, her grin was so adorably infectious. _"Oh!"_ Her eyes opened wide and her mouth formed a simple circle of suprise. _"I caught a fish earlier"_ Kaili couldn't help himself.

 _"Fishing line or pokeball?"_ She laughed, patting her pockets, searching for a small lump. The young man had to keep reminding himself that she wasn't trying to show him her curves. She was just checking her pockets.

 _"Both!"_ her hand came to rest on her back pocket, pulling out a small red and white ball, that expanded once out of the fabric. _"Ah, here it is!"_ She held the ball out to him. _"I want you to have it"_ She beamed. _"I want it to get to grow big and strong in battles. Like Mum and Dad's pokemon!"_ Kaili slowly stowed his own hands in his pockets. _"Don't you want it."_ She pouted, those big eyes seeming to burn into him. He looked away, but the eyes were always there, heartbroken.

 _"Yeah, I uhh"_ He turned back, pulling his right hand from his pocket and holding it out. She squealed happily and pushed the ball into his hand. _"I'll see you later. Good luck at the trial!"_ She smiled, skipping off down the path back to Hau'oli city.

As she skipped away, Kaili's hand closed around the pokeball slowly. As it did, his mind was pulled away and instead he was sitting with his back to the cliff, a pokeball in hand with two big glowing gold eyes floating an inch off it, the eyes were the only thing in the world that moved, and they looked directly at him, Kaili felt an uneasiness sweep through him, which pulled him to another image. He knelt in the dark recesses of the cave, looking up at the open graveyard ahead, pokeball in hand. The next image was Kaili sitting on the cliff near the two drunkards, fishing rod beside him and pokeball in hand. Another image, Kaili could feel handcuffs around him, and a chain led from them to the person infront, and one to the person behind as he was being led by people in black clothes, and holding guns. Kaili's hand was in one of the men's pockets, gripping a pokeball he had half pulled to freedom. Sitting outside a cave covered with grass and ivy, looking at two large totem-like pillars of wood framing the cave entrance, and holding a pokeball. Kneeling in the grass near Kukui's beach, hand simultaneously on a pokeball and in the jaws of what at first looked like a silver crocodile, until he followed it with his eyes and found a small black head atop a stout yellow body. Again he was fishing. And then finally, he was standing back in the graveyard. He shook his head, blinked twice and let the pokemon out of its ball. It was a pink fish, the shape of a cartoon heart. It flopped around on the dirt. The young man knelt beside it, only to get slapped as it jumped up and hit him in the left cheek with a fin. _"Right then!"_ He withdrew the pokemon, thinking for a second before he began typing into the pokeball; 'dIVeY' He looked at it a moment, the pun was good, but the typesetting made it too obvious. 'Divey' He fixed it to, before adding the pokeball to his array.

Kaili looked up and noticed the grave Ivy had been sitting at. He did not need to pry into who lay there, so he stepped back, turning on his heel, and set off back to the road.


	11. Chapter 10

The path back to the main road was a gentle slope. Wide enough for a procession of people, with a path worn from their passage over the years. Ivy, at the end of the path turned left, skipping back to Hau'oli city. The young man could almost imagine the people passing him, four at the front with a coffin mounted between them, and the rest walking behind. His journey up the road had not consisted of such thoughts, but knowing what was at the end behind him, Kaili couldn't help but imagine. The trees grew over the path like bowing guardians of green, their branches over his head knotted into each other to form a strong mesh overhead. It was probably always this dark, even during the day.

Due to his internal musings, Kaili didn't seem to notice the rustling of branches around him. Only small ones, but their every movement echoed the muscletwitches of a small beast. It was about the height of the young man's hip, but felt so much bigger from its perch above him. Its eyes narrowed as it watched the hair atop the human's head shift from side to side. Slowly it followed through the branches. Stalking its prey.

Kaili breathed in the cool night air as he approached the end of the path. His head was pulled forward, and his back screamed at him in pain as something heavy swooped down on his head, grabbing big fistfulls of his hair and slamming into his back. His arms could not bend far enough to grab the strange thing on his back as it screamed excitedly and yanked on his hair. Very quickly, the young man gave up reaching back. _"Two can play!"_ He growled, pulling his arms forward to stretch his back before swinging them back quickly, pinching the toes of whatever this thing is, in the scales of his back under his shirt. The thing jumped off him, making some weird grumbling shouting noise behind him.

The small creature was as round as it was tall, with long slender arms ending in four digits each. It screamed at the young man, slamming its hands into the ground one after the other and then over again. Then, for seemingly no reason, it held its hands above its head and charged at Kaili; arms flailing in the air as it ran. A flash of red light and again it started screeching, though this time a more pained or frantic screaming. Kaili smiled, shaking his head at bird, who had left the pokeball of its own accord to flit around the weird creature, pecking it from every angle as it desperately tried to swipe the assailant out of the air. _"Well You're either Fighting or Bug type. You don't look like a bug though"_ The young man mumbled, grabbing the phone casually out of his pocket. The little face on the phone smiled and began to chatter excitedly, asking what Kaili wanted it to do. _"Just-"_ He took a photo of the creature as it flailed at Bird hopelessly. _"- Find out how rare this fighting type is"_ A short buzz response sounded almost like a snide comment about needing a pokedex afterall. The poor creature was screaming in fright and had run to behind a tree to try pointlessly to escape bird. The phone beeped. _"Mankey eh? Native to Johto, Kanto, and Alola. Good Fighting potential. Strong evolution."_ He nodded, it wasn't the best but it was a good start. Kaili clicked his fingers for Bird's attention. One finger drew a circle in the air before pointing to the mankey and drawing a line to his own feet. The Pikipek changed its tactic, moving around to peck at one side of the creature, which immediately retreated in the opposite direction. It moved to hide behind the young man's legs, screaming at Bird, who had stopped a meter away and was circling the two. Kaili simply held a pokeball down in one hand, and made a motion for Bird to approach, with the other. The moment its fear started to come closer, the little yellow pokemon grabbed the pokeball and disappeared in a flash of red light.

As the creature disappeared in a flash of red light, Kaili let the ball slip from his hand. The ball clicked quietly from on the ground at his feet. The young man took his backpack off and began fishing inside for something to grab the pokeball using. _"Lets see if we can avoid that strangeness."_ He mumbled, pulling out a spare shirt, which he wrapped around his hand as a makeshift glove. _"You might be useful, if that stupidity doesn't get in our way"_ He muttered to the ball as he reached down with his 'glove' to pick it up. The moment his hand clasped around it, he was no longer kneeling with a shirt around his hand. Instead he was standing, holding the pokeball up to a space just above his shoulder. He was kneeling at a grave in the graveyard, pokeball held out at the air between himself a the stone. He had the shirt wrapped around his hand, laying on his stomach with half his arm down a hole, only the ends of the shirt were visible. He was standing under a tree, hand out with palm facing upwards as the pokeball fell back into it. A little girl was handing him a pokeball over by the hotel. Again he was sitting on the cliff with fishing rod beside him and pokeball in hand. When he was finally himself again, the young man swore. _"Well that idea was a fucking bust."_ He stood, moving the pokeball to his hip and tapping one of the others. Bird vanished in a flash of red light as the young man counted. _"Five there, plus that deathmachine, and one is from Ivy. Well, I'm going to have to try and get some more pokeballs, one left."_ He shrugged, continuing his trek.

It was five minutes walk before the young dope realised he still had a shirt wrapped around his hand. He didn't even stop as he unwrapped it and returned it to his bag. Looking up after swinging the bag back onto his back, Kaili noticed he was passing the hotel. It was a single story building, multiple rooms on the floor. The sign read _"Hau'oli Hotel"_ , and so did its website from memory. But he was use to calling a place like this a Motel. When he had been planning his trip, this was one of the places he looked into staying to start with, but at the stupidly high $3000 a night, he passed it up almost immediately. Now that he passed the sign, the young man couldn't stifle the laugh. 'Meals not provided. Minimum stay: One week' Yeah, let's pay $21,000 for a bed for seven sleeps. Even in Unova that's stupid. He was suprised the place had any customerbase at all. The place was in very good condition however; the doors all looked sturdy, there were no broken windows or busted guttering. No kids getting yelled at outside. No gangsigns or other tags on its walls as he passed. Maybe it was worth it? His experience was only with cheaper placed. Not that it mattered, he didn't have the money to afford it anyway, even if were to want to. He shook his head and sighed, carrying on up the path.

A ways up the road, and on the opposite side, from the hotel, stood a high wooden fence that wrapped around a large field. inside the field were rows of bushes and small roundtopped trees. Kaili stopped to lean on the fence and look take in what was growing in the dark. An assortment of berries could be made out with difficulty in the darkness, and Kaili's stomach ached looking at them. The berry bushes and trees were planted in rows; a row of low bushes with small red berries on them, followed by a row of bulb-esc trees bearing little yellow fruits. Kaili could hear the voices of an argument carrying downwind from up the road, telling him no-one was around to see him. With difficulty, the young man climbed through the wooden rail fence as quietly as he could. Acting as if he was suppose to be there, he strode from bush to bush, plucking as many of the better looking berries as he could. Including as many different types as he could. He lay his armload of illgotten goods on the ground, pulling out the spare shirt to wrap them in, before stowing them back in his bag and slowly escaping the fence once again. Up the road, the voices became clearer. The loudest was a middleaged man; _"I just don't get it Liam? You refuse to work the fields, but you're happy to take from it?"_ The man was clearly quite irate, and was yelling at a boy in black clothes. As he approached, Kaili recognised the boy getting yelled at from earlier that night. two other kids in black and white were standing beside 'Liam', trying to look tough to get the guy to back down. _"These friends of yours are a bad fucking influence. Just come home and I promise to make the beating short this time!"_ The man yelled. Kaili's hackles raised at the notion, and he couldn't help but step in to the situation. _"Oh great, more of them"_ he man groaned. Kaili instead stepped between the man and the kids in black and white, with his back to the kids. He simply stood there, staring at the man. _"What do-"_ The man kept trying to look away, back to 'Liam', but his eyes kept being drawn back to Kaili's emotionless expression. _"What d-"_ Kaili said nothing, didn't make any expression. Simply stood there until the man threw up his hands. _"Fuck this. I don't want to see you around here anymore Liam"_ He growled before turning and walking off into the fields.

 _"Yo-"_ one of the kids grunted at Kaili's back. The young man turned to look at them. Sure they were teens, but he couldn't not see lonely kids sitting on brick stairs when he looked at them. _"Whaddya playin at? We had that handled! No-one messes with team skull."_ One of the others elbowed the talker in the side, and after looking over he turned back to Kaili. _"But yeah, thanks though or whatever."_ the teens shrugged and turned almost in unison to walk off southward. Kaili's destination however, lay yet further north.

It wasn't much further, thankfully, from the berry orchard to another fork in the road. Straight ahead led further around the island. Right led into a dark cave, overgrown with vines and bushes, and left took him to the 'verdant cavern pokemon centre'. Figuring he'd give Ilima a little more time to set up the trial, the young man went left, up the stairs and past the umbrella covered tables, into the pokemon centre. Sitting down at one of the tables he pulled some berries from his bag to much on as he took the newest ball from his pocket. _"Dunt fink I forgot 'bout ewe"_ Kaili tapped away at the tiny keypad, putting the ball back at his pocket when it read 'Monkey king'. He tapped all the pokeballs, surrounding himself with red light before the pokemon materialized. He offered berries to each of the creatures around him. Kladenets just sat on the table, Mr. Balloon drifted away from the offer. Bird and Divey each ate one, and the Monkey king grabbed himself a handful to mush into his mouth where he chewed noisily and messily. The young man was surprised however, when one of the staff from elsewhere in the building, brought a small cup of coffee over to the table. Smiling, the man set it down and cheerily waved Kaili away when he reached for his wallet. Apparently, the only people up this late are after the trial, and the coffee is free for them. _"Thank you"_ the young man nodded, staring at the cup in concern. Was it poison? Probably, it is coffee.


	12. Chapter 11

The young man placed his empty foam cup down on the table, glancing around at the pokemon surrounding him. _"Anyone want another berry?"_ Kaili asked, but when no response came he stood. He tapped each pokeball once in turn with the exception of Mr. Balloon's, watching as each pokemon vanished in red light. The tendrils of the balloon twirled in his hair before knotting and anchoring the floating purple pokemon to the spot a couple centimeters off the young man's head. _"First trial it is then."_ The two left the building, stepping out into the cool night air, breathing in the salt from the sea behind the center. _"There's not much about the Alola trials online. Wonder if they're like the gyms back home."_ He shrugged, strolling down the stairs as the balloon bobbed happily as an extension of his steps. The cavern ahead bore a large, well maintained sign that read 'Verdant Cavern'. Vines wrapped around the edges but were well pruned to prevent their spread over the display of the sign. The rocks at the entrance had been swept aside to form a small path. Upon entering, the young man had to pause as his eyes adjusted to even less light. But once the scene came into focus, the young man was slightly impressed at the greenery within. Holes in the roof let streams of moonlight pour in and highlight the mossy carpet and ferns covering the floor.

 _"Kaili!"_ The boy Ilima waved from nearby, leaning against a part of the wall and desperately attempting to not look as exhausted as he was. He was clearly failing. At the young man's approach, Ilima continued. _"I didn't expect a late night trial"_ He chuckled between breaths. _"You'll have to give me a minute"_ Kaili shrugged his reply, he'd waited this long, a little bit longer wouldn't hurt. With his breath caught, the boy stood proud. _"Let me formally welcome you to Verdant Cavern! I am your captain, Ilima. Allow me to explain the basics of my trial."_ Kaili nodded along, a part of the young man just wanted to get on with it, but the other part thought that maybe this was Ilima's first trial as well. _"What you should attempt to do is..."_ Ilima gestured to three wire cages about the size to store Monkey king in. _"Capture three of the Pokémon that lurk here in their dens!"_ He beamed, then corrected himself. _"Not with a pokeball, pokeball capture of pokemon on a trial is against the rules of the island challenge"_ Kaili assumed as much, though he found himself asking about the relationship to gym battles. _"Oh Not here on Alola. Professor Kukui and Officer Nanu have been pushing for the introduction of Gyms, but most people don't seem interested. The trials are more like puzzles or tests of character. The Grand trials are what you're looking for -"_ He was prattling on like a history nerd. _"- And each of the Trials are type themed. None of the types repeating themsel-"_ This time, the young man cut in.

 _"What type is this trial then?"_

 _"Oh I'm not allowed to tell you that, It ruins some of the planning and strategy invo-"_

 _"It's Normal type isn't it?"_

Ilima simply shook his head, clearly not letting himself give anything away as he stepped behind Kaili to block the cavern entrance. _"No-one may leave the cave until you have passed or given up on your trial."_ The boy declared, clearly trying to sound authoritative. Kaili shrugged and grabbed one of the cages, looking around the cave and listening for any sound of movement. The scratching of claws across rock echoed in his ears a thousand fold but still near silent. Closing his eyes, the young man felt shadows across his legs, as if he was walking without moving. And so he moved, each stride following the shadows of the steps before him, and leaving shadows for some unseen, and unheard legs behind him. When the shadows faded, the young man opened his eyes and kneeled before the hole in the rock in front of him. A little black tail was flicking left and right in the space, and the creature squealed with surprise as Kaili grabbed it and yanked it backward out of the hole. It was a rodent. Black fur with a brown underbelly. Its tail had spikes of clumped fur, as did its slightly too large ears. He'd seen these before. Though this one, which struggled in his grip and tried desperately to bite his hand as it was lowered into a cage, looked different to the others. _"Yeah you'll find other pokemon like Rattata that look different here in Alola"_ Ilima butted into Kaili's private musings. The young man closed and locked the cage, placing it back with the others before picking up an empty one.

After standing back up with his empty cage, Kaili noticed a streak of movement out of the corner of his eye. Following the motion to a hole in the wall, he knelt down to peer in. No sooner was his eye at ground level than the black rattata shot out again, dashing away from him and into another hole nearby. With a sigh, the young man opened the cage and strode over to the hole. Placing the cage on the ground in front of the hole he bashed the wall and watched as the excited rodent scoots straight out and smashes its head against the back of the cage. While it shook its head, slightly dizzy, Kaili closed and locked the cage, carrying it back to beside the other one.

One cage left, one rodent to go. With cage in hand, the young man began searching the cave again. Periodically he stopped, and closed his eyes, hoping to feel the shadows upon his legs again, but they did not come. Eventually he finally found a little tail swishing out of one of the holes and reached for it. As his fingers grew close, they were swiped at by a clawed paw before the little pokemon wriggled further into the hole. Listening best he could, Kaili could hear it scurrying through a tunnel and along the wall. It squirmed to another hole, and promptly bit the hand that reached for it, before wriggling back into its little network and away into the wall. _"Fuck. Come out here you little bastard."_

Overtop of the sound of his own quiet swearing, Kaili heard Ilima shouting at someone to come back. The sound of footfalls slowed to a stop behind him. Looking over his shoulder the young man could see Ilima standing by the entrance, pacing back and forth with a hand in the front of his hair. All the while, two youths in black and white clothes were standing over Kaili. _"Yo, yo, yo!"_ One started, Kaili immediately recognizing the voice. _"It's your badass skull boys, back... back again! Remember us?"_ The young man stood up, brushing his hands off on his pants before turning to look at the two boys who had run in.

 _"Yeah"_ He looked between the two, first pointing to the one who didn't speak; _"He's Jake-"_ And then to the talker _"And you're Liam."_ Liam took a step back at the comment, glancing at Jake quickly before Kaili continued. _"He has a Zubat that likes to sit on him and enjoys cuddles but he keeps it in its pokeball while you're around because you're allergic. Oh, and your dad's an asshole. Do I have that right?"_ He had to hide the smirk at their confused glances to each other. But he was the one surprised when Jake actually spoke.

 _"Wait... Whoa! You remember all that?"_ Jake nodded, mouth curving down but not pouting. _"That's pretty impressive, actually!"_ They both nodded before the young man looked over at his friend. _"But who cares about that, we're here to mess his trial up, yo!"_ Liam nodded along until the last part, shaking his head as if flicking a fly off.

 _"Naw, man. Reckon I owe him one for that thing with m' dad."_ Jake looked from Kaili to Liam and back, as if sizing the young man up.

 _"Aight, so? Wanna help him?"_

 _"Yeah."_ The two nodded, stepping away from Kaili and wandering off to explore the place. Liam clarified his intent, as if Kaili had not figured it out. _"We'll corner that rat for you, homie."_

The black clad youth 'Liam' called to his friend, pointing out one of the holes Kaili had found the rodent in. _"I wouldn't do that"_ Kaili noted as Liam's hand approached the hole. _"He bites"_ The youths nodded, Liam picked up a rock, tossing it up as he smiled at the Trialgoer. He stood beside the hole and began bashing at the area around the hole with the stone. Kaili quickly pointed out the other hole to Jake, who jogged over, pulling out his phone as he went. The song that started blaring from the phone was kind of obnoxious and repetitive, but Kaili didn't particularly mind. He could clearly hear a couple guitars and a steady drumbeat, but at the volume Jake was playing it, he couldn't make out much of the lyrics beyond 'Team Skull' and 'Get down'. The cacophony of the two youths as they 'stepped up their game' did however, start to give the young man a migraine. But it was working, the black and cream rodent had wriggled its way to the hole Kaili was stationed at. Pulling his sleeve up a little over his hand, the trial goer reached into the hole. The fabric was caught on something in the hole. Letting the sleeve go, he kept pushing his arm in. He could feel fur under his fingers the moment he was no longer protected by the sleeve. His fingers gripped the fur at what he assumed was the back of this things neck and he gently pulled the creature out. Just before the thing was out of the hole, the young man lifted the cage with his free hand, only now noticing that the noise the others were making had stopped. The Rattata was indeed clamped down on his sleeve, and his hand was around its neck as he eased it out of the hole and into the cage. Quickly closing it up behind the creature.

With the third caged rat over at the wall, Kaili turned and thanked the two intruders for their help. _"It's cool, Team Skull don't owe nobody nothin"_ Liam responded. _"Don't think this means we cool. We'll kick yo ass next time."_ Kaili nodded, watching Ilima finally plucking up the courage to approach the three. Jake looked over his shoulder to see him, tapping Liam's back once. _"Hmm? Yeah yo, we don't feel like messing up this fag's trial yo."_ The youths had turned to face Ilima. _"Not worth the effort yo."_ And they pushed past the boy and stormed out of the cave trying to look tough. As Ilima began asking what had happened, Kaili simply shrugged and shook his head before pointing at the cages.

 _"Well done"_ Ilima smiled. _"Now you have to go get the Z-Stone. It's up through that exit over there"_ He pointed to the cave's other entrance, currently guarded by a large man. _"Just go past that guy and grab the stone off the pedestal. It's that easy."_

The man was sitting at the side of the exit when Kaili reached him. He looked in his early thirties and did not seem at all interested in what was happening around him. His clothes had been thrown on quickly and he seemed half asleep and only interested in the Game device he was holding. At a glance, Kaili recognised it as a 'nintendo ds' though the battery was low. _"What're you playing?"_ He asked, looking down. The man simply grunted a reply, something like 'conquest', whatever that was. The young man shrugged and walked past. As he was taking his third step, Kaili suddenly stopped, he tapped his pants pocket once. _"Hey, Rotom?"_ A crackling response came.  
 _"Yezz?"_  
 _"Could you google something for me please?"_  
 _"You're in the middle of a trial, iz now the best time?"_  
 _"Just look up if the Raticate in Alola are classified differently than the ones over in Unova."_ The phone went quiet for a moment, before beeping several times.  
 _"Yezz! Alolan Raticate are classified as both Normal and Dark. Whereas most Raticate are purely kept in the Normal category. Why do you ask?"_  
A slight smirk crept along Kaili's face. _"Because I'll bet you we're about to fight one."_  
 _"Thatzz crazy talk."_  
 _"Watch."_  
 _"I can't, I'm in your pocket."_ Kaili shook his head and continued through the slight tunnel/exit.

The young man tapped a pokeball on his belt as he passed into the clearing. The flash of red light cast a great crimson glow across the vines and shrubs in the strange well. Kaili found himself standing in a tall hole with a spiral walkway meandering up around the edge, carved from the rock itself and spattered with plants of all kinds. The moon shone down into the chamber from high above, and almost directly onto the glinting white stone resting on an ancient carved pedestal at the far end of the chamber. Kaili looked down at the long armed furry ape beside him. Monkey King was looking around, apparently on high alert. After three steps into the 'clearing', a loud screeching/yell echoed across the walls. A streak of movement appeared in front of them, slamming into the ground as the creature leapt down from one of the parts of the spiral ramp above. It was a large, fat rodent. Similar colours to the Rattata, but large whiskers and huge teeth. It was at least 1 meter, maybe 1.2 meters tall from foot to top of the head, with its large ears extending its size. The creatures hackles raised as Kaili felt almost as if the chamber had grown darker. It snarled and wisps of a strange smoke-like substance gently spilt from beneath its fur. The young man could feel a pressure emanating from this thing as it moved onto all fours and snarled again. _"Karate Chop"_ Kaili hear himself say a dozen times before the words ever left his lips, and a dozen times after. Monkey King dashed forward, slamming the side of his hand down on the creature's neck. Instantly the creature fell unconscious. The light returned to what Kaili expected of the moon, and the pressure and smoke dissipated.

Stepping over the unconscious Raticate, Kaili approached the Pedestal. The old totemic carvings from the face of it continued on the top, spiralling in to a small clasp that held the white gemstone in place. The young man plucked the crystal from its resting place. Streaks of black inside lined up to form two concentric circles when the stone was viewed from any corner. He turned it over in his hand as he turned around. The boy Ilima was walking into the clearing clapping slowly. _"Congratulations on passing your first trial Kaili"_ He smiled, nodding. _"That's a Z-Crystal called 'Normalium-z', it-"_

 _"Does something special for pokemon of the normal classification"_ Kaili interrupted.

 _"Yes, and could you please stop, that's slightly annoying. Yes, it allows pokemon to use a very powerful normal classification moved called a 'Z-Move'. To do it, your pokemon has to be holding the stone, and you have to encourage it with the proper dance."_ Kaili raised an eyebrow at the last point. _"The Normalium-Z dance goes like this"_ He crossed his arms, before extending both as fists, with one atop the other. His arms swung across to his right, after which his left hand shot up to his left. Finally his left hand moved to horizontal across his body as his right did also, so the lines they formed(if traced from the fingers on his left hand, to his left elbow, then his right elbow, to his right fingers) the letter Z. Kaili could barely stop himself from laughing.

 _"Yeahhhh, na fuck that"_ He responded, simply handing the crystal to Monkey King before the ape disappeared in a further flash of red light.

 _"Kaili"_ The boys tone was almost pleading. _"This is actually important. The crystal won't work without the dance!"_ Kaili shrugged his response. _"The dance lets you give your energy to your pokemon to perform the move. The motions are a ritual that is of vital importance."_ He watched as Kaili walked past him.

 _"I really don't care"_ Came the young man's reply. _"I'm not doing that lame ass dance, and I'm especially not doing the dweeby pose at the end."_ He shrugged, walking back into the cave and hopping down the ledges necessary to reach the entrance as fast as possible. _"If I have to do that, I guess I'm not using Z-moves then"_ He mumbled to himself.


	13. Chapter 12

Finally stepping out of the dark, overgrown mess that was the cave; Kaili found himself in the dark overgrown mess of the night. At least there was open sky this time however. It must be very late, or very early for so few people to be about. Slight rustling from the trees and bushes nearby were nothing, small pokemon eyes watching him from their hiding places. The cool breeze rushing across his thin clothes was pleasant, even as it slipped into his shirt. Wind in some places cut through a person like a knife, but this was the gentle caress of a shower. A slight whistling drew his eyes up, to watch the purple balloon pokemon drifting carefree around on the wind. As the young man began walking however, the pokemon abandoned its play to return to latching onto his head. Kaili turned the stone over in his hand. _"Dance?"_ He mumbled, scoffing to himself. _"Who would actually dance for something like this?"_

A short walk north of the cave, the young man encountered a low concrete fence with a gate. On the other side of the fence sat a large man in a deck chair, wearing familiar looking clothes. His feet sitting up on the barrier as he leaned back with eyes closed. _"Uhh. Excuse me"_ The mans eyes fluttered open as he looked up and yawned.

 _"Can I help you?"_ The man covered his mouth as a yawn cut into his question.

 _"You're wearing the same clothes as a guy back in the cave."_ Kaili shrugged, himself not particularly tired. A small pokemon was at the base of the man's chair, looking up at the apple sitting on his lap that the man seems to have forgotten existed.

 _"Huh?"_ It took the man a moment before he understood the question. _"Yeah, We're trial guides. Our job is to give Trialgoers advice if they need it."_

 _"Well, I just beat my first trial, any advice?"_

The man lifted his cap slightly. _"Well, Your grand trial is in Iki town. Hala holds them every 5 days, so it should be two days away for you. In the meantime you can explore the island I guess"_

 _"What's with this barrier?"_

 _"A blockade to stop those who haven't completed the trial. Show me your Normalium-Z and you can go through"_ Kaili shrugged and handed over the Gemstone. The man turned it over in his hands before tossing it back. _"All good. Enjoy your night."_

Shrugging, Kaili stepped over the barrier and into the dirt beyond. The moment his foot hit the ground, the snoring began beside him. The path before him split, the right side followed the edge of the mountain, rising up with a cliff to its left. Should one fall from the right, they'd tumble down onto the left path; A gentler path that kept the same level, but followed the curve of the sea cliff. A small railing being the only protection from falling into the water below. Tilting his head back, Kaili noticed his view of the night sky obstructed by a large purple mass very close to his face, though it swung out of the way eventually due to the movement of his head. With a slight chuckle, he set off at a relaxed pace, meandering left, with a hand on the railing. _"What do you mean they escaped?"_ A voice snarled in his ear. A quiet voice, dripping with malice and authority. Kaili's head snapped to the right, though the only person he could see was a young man tending to his pokemon under the shade of the cliff.

 _"Did you say something?"_ Kaili called over to him. The youth looked up and shook his head before returning to his pokemon. Another short glance around before Kaili resumed walking, slightly faster this time, constantly glancing over his shoulder as feeling rushed through his legs. He had to fight the sensation of running, to stop himself breaking out in a sprint along the cliffs edge, despite every muscle in his body screaming at him to. He fought it down and maintained a steady stride to the small gap in the railing, all the while whispering to himself. _"It's just in your head, don't let yourself go crazy, don't let yourself go crazy"_. The gap stood at the top of a staircase, leading down to a grassing outcropping complete with pergola and its own guard rails.

After sitting down on a bench in the pergola, Kaili's eyes were drawn to a mound of Yellow wool in the grass. A small light sat above one end of the wool. The contrast of the light in the darkness of the night had, for a brief moment, hidden the tail from him. The tail extending from the wool to the ball. And at the other end of the ball, a small blue head with little striped horns. Beyond the ball of golden fluff, the young man could see two small but long yellow ears, tipped with black. The closer creature he knew, as most people did, was a 'Mareep', no need to look up information about the electric sheep pokemon. And it appeared a Pikachu was hiding nearby as well. When the sheep moved just far enough out of the way, the young man got a better look at the mouse. Upon getting a better view of it, the young man felt a twinge of pity, for the armless pokemon. He couldn't tell if it was born that way, or just mistreated, but it didn't look right.

Just as he was building up the momentum of will to stand back up again, Kaili noticed the Mareep bouncing around and bleeting noisily. It would bounce toward the pikachu and then quickly back away. Several times it even hit the smaller pokemon with its nose. Each time the Pikachu turned, the Mareep would circle it more and bounce in close to hit it, before bouncing away. At one point, the sheep's bunting of the pikachu's head was accompanied by it licking at the smaller pokemon, it didn't look to hurt much but the pikachu's head rolled listfully to the side. The young man had begun walking at some point, he wasn't certain. Striding as if on a mission, perhaps he wasn't in full control. As he neared the two, Kaili snapped back to reality as giant black tendrils whipped out from under the base of the Pikachu, which in addition to not having arms, did not have legs, had strange eyes and a mouth that all looked drawn on by a five year old. The tendrils swept at the mareep, swinging under as the sheep bounced up each time.

A little taken aback, Kaili grabbed a pokeball, and while the strange pikachu-like creature was looking away, pressed it to the back of the pokemon's head. A quick flash of red light and the pokemon was gone. With the pokeball in hand, Kaili's eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground in a sudden convulsion as his mind was bombarded with images. A hundred moments of him in a forest, holding a pokeball against trees, under rocks, or one picking it out of a birdnest. He was standing on a beach beside a person wet and out of breath, a pokeball between them. His hand, covered in scales, wrapped around someones throat as he removed the pokeballs from their belt. Kneeling and smiling at a group of freshly hatched canine pokemon, a pokeball being handed to him by a smiling store owner. This exact situation, however the sheep was missing and the strange Pikachu was nearby instead. Him taking the pokeballs off a dead body, while wiping his bloodstained hand on his pant leg. His hand outstretched with a pokeball grasped and the silhouette of a MASSIVE pokemon being captured. And as another scene started he woke, maybe he blocked the rest out. There had been more coming, he knew it. Before even trying to sit up, he opened the keypad on the pokeball and quickly typed in _"Tiny"_ before confirming.

Sitting up, the young man quickly noticed there was no sheep nearby. Instead, in the grass beside him sat yet another pokeball. Simply resting in the grass, as if it had rolled off his belt. Tenatively, he reached out and took it. Lights were on as if it had captured a pokemon, but nothing happened. He pressed the button to see the internal data, and a picture of the sheep came up. Quickly he typed _"Buzz"_ and confirmed, not arguing with the luck of not having to go through that weirdness again.


	14. Chapter 13

As his foot fell on the first stair of the short staircase back to the path, Kaili froze. Slowly he looked down at the two pokeballs in his hands. In his mind he ran a hand over each pokeball on his belt. Trying to remember the exact circumstances of each catch was prooving exceptionally difficult. The moments did not count. Only the spheres. He bought five on the trip to Alola. The first was, Kladenets? On the beach he wrestled with him and eventually subdued the blade enough. Second was Mr. Balloon. On the same beach. Third was Bird at the school. Fourth was Deathmachine. No, this fourth one is Divey, Ivy gave it to him, but he did catch Deathmachine with the fourth ball. and Five was Monkey King, just outside the graveyard. Did he buy any more at any point? No matter how much he wracked his memory he couldn't remember buying any more. So; Where did he get the sixth and seventh balls, which he caught Buzz and Tiny in. The young man simply stood there staring down. Neither had been teleported away from him either. Shouldn't pokemon over the legal limit of 6 be teleported away?

The young man turned, suspecting that he had taken the pokeballs from the table in the pergola. The Pergola itself had a couple low walls by the benches. The table in the middle was a hexagon, with benches occupying four sides, and low walls extending from the back rests of these benches. As he looked, Kaili could see light stemming from under the cliff's edge on the other side of the structure. He could hear his own footsteps almost echoing as he approached, edging around the structure to not go in. His own footsteps and the rustling of grass on the opposite side from himself. When he reached the edge he looked over. In the middle of the air below the cliff was a thing made of light. A pulsating cone of white light, the funnel fading into the night, but the apeture clear as day. It was a small, but he'd seen one only hours ago. At least, in a vision he'd seen it. A giant one in the sky for an instant. A sudden sound snapped him back to reality. An arm. A human looking arm but made of metal reached out of the apeture, grasping the cliff. A second later another. As they pulled, Kaili watched as a creature; manlike in shape but Steel in constitution, pulled itself out of the funnel.

As the thing pulled itself onto the cliff, the young man decided he didn't truly care where these pokeballs came from. He simply needed to be away from this thing. He turned and set off at a run. The scales on his back twisted with the motions, grabbing at his shirt. The adrenaline coursing through him didn't care though, the fabric ripped easily enough. The scales on his legs seized his pants and each other. Almost refusing to move how he wanted. Each stride was a ripping pain, his legs twisting under the pressure and contortions. When he reached the stairs he could barely lift his feet high enough to traverse them. It felt like the skin at the top of his right thigh was going to rend itself apart as he moved. His left arm was attached to his side, unwilling to move lest he tear himself open there as well. His neck refused to turn. To look back, the young man had to physically turn himself. At the top of the stairs he resigned himself to whatever was happening, turning around to look back at what this thing was doing. Why it hadn't attacked him yet. There was a man on the outcropping with the robotic thing. Kaili couldn't make the man's face out because of the hood and mask he wore. The man's leg was bleeding, but he hobbled toward another funnel, one that had not existed before. The robotic creature swung its arm down, but the man moved perfectly to avoid it. As if he could see it coming. The man fell into the funnel and the creature followed. For a couple seconds the lights simply sat there, before fading away with a few final pulses.

Letting Mr. Balloon out of the pokemon, Kaili walked silently with the floating creature along the cliffside around the island. Occassionally stopping to try and solve the riddle that was the grip of his scales. Ahead and to the right, he eventually noticed a large sign beside a crevice in the cliff.

============  
| MELEMELE |  
| MEADOW |

While contemplating entering the crevice to see this, quick possibly, tourist attraction, the young man heard the sound of rapid footfalls coming from further along the path. Rubbing his already sore neck as he turned his head, Kaili noticed a familiar young woman running toward him. _"Kaili!"_ Lillie shouted as she approached. Stopping to put her hands on her knees as she caught her breath, doubled over and panting heavily. _"What are you doing out here? It's like 1 in the morning?"_ Kaili shrugged and basically repeated her question to her. _"Nebby-"_ She panted a moment. _"Nebby ran off into the Meadow there! What if a pokemon attacks it? It doesn't have any moves it can use to battle!"_ Kaili sighed. Offering as he knew he had to, to go get the little terror. He marched off into the crevice before Lillie could properly respond.

Even in the washed out moonlight, Kaili was struck by the calmness of the ocean of yellow flowers in the _"meadow"_ beyond the crevice. A rolling field within an open cave, filled with more flowers than any human should want to count. And at the far end of the field was a small cave entrance in the rock, just visible above the tops of the flowers. _"Of course"_ He mumbled, Mr. Balloon wrapping its tendrils around his shoulder as Kaili set off through the flowers. _"It'll be in the cave won't it?"_ The purple creature tethered to him bobbed happily as he spoke, Lowering itself to his head level when they reached the cave entrance. Sounds were coming from deep within, and without stepping any closer, Kaili took out his phone. _"You're going to have to get use to this. I prefer night. Now, can you tell what those sounds are?"_ He held the phone up to the entrance, the small face in the display clearly 'thinking'.  
 _"I can hear Nebby, A Cyndaquil, A furfrou, Some people and something I don't know."_  
 _"Thanks."_ He pocketed the phone and climbed through the entrance. A loud scraping noise echoed down the hall as his back rubbed against the side of the entrance. _"I don't think surprise was ever a card I held anyway"_ He tapped three pokeballs, returning Mr. Balloon and bringing to his sides Kladenets and the Monkey King. The small monkey of course, was clinging to Kaili's leg as they proceeded. _"Shh"_ he whispered _"You have the advantage over pokemon in caves. Don't worry."_

It wasn't until Kaili was around the corner from the voices that he realised something. These voices did not echo. Not the way he was use to. The voices seemed to simply float through him. Only once each. The young man moved slightly to peer around the corner at the source of the two lone voices. They wore strange clothes. As if cosplaying as a strange Star Trek or Stargate civilization. The taller of the two, an elder looking man, had short purple hair extending out from under his helmet. The woman's hair was much longer, reaching halfway down her back. Though it was purple as well. Neither had the complexion of a person who had ever seen the sun. Perhaps they ordered everything online? Kaili didn't know. He could see two pokemon with the two. The first; a fluffy canine with a long neck, sniffing at the second. It was hard to make out but the man held this second creature at arms length, much of his own body obstructing the young man's view of it. And unnoticed by the two, Kaili spotted Nebby hiding behind a rock not far behind them.

The man's arm moved, giving Kaili a better view of the small creature. It was small, and held by the back of its neck. It's fur colouration was split in half, with the bottom half containing its feet, eyes, mouth, and lower part of the nose. The Top was a charcoal grey and the bottom a creamy yellow. It looked weak and wounded, barely concious if at all as the man rotated it in his hand. _"An elusive target, indeed..."_ The man continued the conversation, turning and passing small pokemon to the woman. _"Hmm. Soliera. Test this one. I would also like to check the functionality of that Poké Ball we tried making in the image of the devices used by these Alolan people. Now that we have at least succeeded in using one to capture an Alolan Pokémon specimen."_ The woman took it, a slight smirk on her face as she placed it down on a rock. She held it on its back as she drew something long from the pocket of her suit. Long and shiny.

Unable to stand by as whatever was about to happen happened, Kaili stepped forward, Kladenets sitting on his shoulder as Monkey King copied his mood. The woman froze. _"Captain..."_ She was looking directly at Kaili. _"He was at the festival. Remember? When we detected such high levels of Aura?"_ The man turned to look over at the lad.  
 _"Ah, yes!"_ He smiled, turning to face him head on as the woman simply stood there, pinning the pokemon with a blade at its chest. _"I am Phyco. I believe we are expected to greet you with an 'Alola.' Is that right?"_ The man moved his hands as if motioning the structure of a box in front of him. _"Put it away Soliera, we have a guest."_ The woman nodded once and returned the blade to her pocket.  
 _"What do you think you're doing?"_ Kaili almost snarled. It had been a long night already.  
 _"We are studying Z crystals and the energy you call-"_  
 _"With that pokemon. What are you doing with that pokemon?"_ He cut the man off. Not caring what was said in response but not backing down either.

 _"Get him"_ The woman shouted at the canine. The pokemon dashed forward eagerly, bounding toward Kaili, hackles raised and teeth bared. Monkey King reacted faster than Kaili himself. Stepping between the two and bringing the edge of its hand to bear against the side of the dogs head. A single whimper was uttered and the long necked canine fell down unconcious. _"I see... So that is what a Pokémon battle is!"_ She held a strange blue and black pokeball out, and in a flash of white light, another creature entered the frey. Purple and pointed, with the shape of The great gazoo mixed with a Beedrill, the pokemon hovered in the air menacingly. It dove once, stinger bared, and slammed into Monkey King's hand as it tried to block. Almost instantly the small ape fell sideways, body convulsing and mouth foaming. Kaili stepped forward, and with a single swing of Kladenets, knocked the pokemon out of the air. He has intended to get there before Monkey King, but had clearly failed. The two people smiled, talking amongst themselves before returning their pokemon and simply walking past Kaili out of the cave. The young man didn't stop them. He was too busy searching his bag for an antidote, or an antitoxin berry, or something. All the while kneeling beside the pokemon that was only with him because it had been afraid.


	15. Chapter 14

In the darkened cave, lit only by moonlight sliding in across the waters lapping in and out of the small entrance deeper in, the young man knelt beside a small collapsed pokemon. _"Mr Balloon"_ He whispered to the pokemon bobbing around him. _"Get Nebby"_ The pokemon whistled and floated off to the side, where it wrapped its streamers around the limbs of the small pokemon. Kaili wasn't even certain how that worked, Nebby looked to be made of gas, but he didn't question it. Instead the young man turned his attention to the blade laying beside him. Its hilt was resting on the smaller pokemon. _"I know. It wasn't your fault."_ He whispered, placing a pokeball against the blade, resulting in it disappearing in a flash of light. Gently, Kaili scooped Monkey King up, holding him in as secure method as he could as he moved over to the rock the other pokemon was curled up on. Gently stroking its fur, Kaili could see small callouses on its back fur. He knew what this pokemon was; a Cyndaquil. A particularly rare fire type pokemon. The blade had cut a little bit of its skin but it appeared to be mostly okay. He couldn't leave it, but he couldn't carry it and Monkey King at the same time. A thousand thoughts rushed through his mind as to how he could carry them both. Nothing seemed right. It was all just cruel to one or the other. With a heavy sigh, the young man drew Monkey King's pokeball to try something. Pressing the ball against the little monkey's body did nothing, the ball would not recognise the one it should carry. Trying not to let tears well, he instead attempted to press the ball against the Cyndaquil. The small pokemon disappeared in a flash of light, and the pokeball claimed it easily. It was sick. Abhorrent that he should just swap them out so readily. But he would not leave either in the cave.

With the balloon floating beside him, and the bundle in his arms, Kaili left the cave. He strode through the flowers with a clear intent. Through the small crevice and out onto the cliffside path, Kaili found Lillie waiting for him. Her eyes did not even notice the balloon creature carrying her pokemon, instead they fell upon what Kaili carries. _"Kaili what's wrong?"_ she placed a finger on the body for a moment before her eyes drooped and head hung. _"I'm sorry"_ she whispered, taking Nebby as the tendrils released it. _"Nebby, It's dangerous out here. You need to stop running away."_ She scolded, lowering the pokemon into her sports bag. It bore a saddened expression as she zipped part of the bag up to potentially hold it in. _"Kaili"_ He didn't look up, simply holding the bundle and continuing his walk along the path. _"Kaili!"_ the young woman jogged after him. _"I'm so sorry. I never would have asked if I knew-"_ He was silent and unresponsive, simply walking as she stopped and watched him leave.

Kukui's Lab,  
Next Day.  
He couldn't remember how he had gotten here. Simply had awoken on a lounge in a dingy basement. The air was cool but his back was hot, even the lounge smelt a little scolded from something. Sitting up he looked around. His bag was on the floor near the stairs, and his pokeballs sat in a circle around a bundle of cloth on the coffeetable near him. He didn't check the bundle, he knew what it was. Standing up, he checked his pockets to find them empty. Though when searching his bag, everything was present. Whoever had abducted him hadn't robbed him. A slight hint of salt water on the air was the final clue he needed. Without a word he slung his bag over his shoulder, and returned the pokeballs to his belt. There was still too many pokeballs, he had to look into why. But first; he scooped up the wrapped bundle and carried it up the old wooden stairs. A distant voice echoed in his ear; the sound of the holographic nurse from the pokemon center. The young man scrunched his eyes and shook his head as he reached the front door, almost trying to shake the voice out of his ear. Outside Kukui's shack, he grabbed a shovel and headed down the beach.

When he was done, Kaili collected an armfull of sea shells. Standing on the beach he tossed them across the water. Watching them strike once, and promptly sink into the ocean. The young man didn't care about his 'ammunition', it'd wash back ashore eventually. Halfway through his pulling his arm back, a voice spoke up. All that was needed was the word 'cousin' before Kaili responded. _"Let me guess, you're here to console me? Give me a pep talk?"_ He didn't look around, simply continued throwing shells. _"Don't bother. I knew it would happen"_ One actually bounced on the water once before sinking. _"I really do not care. I made a mistake, that's all"_ The sound of shifting behind him made him want to look behind but didn't want to give the professor the satisfaction. _"I'll learn and do better next time. Simple."_ he had to kneel down to collect more shells to continue. _"I didn't have it for long. I have no reason to really care anyway do I?"_ The shell fell shorter than the others, his arm having difficulty putting the right amount of energy in. _"It was only a pokemon right?"_ the young man forced a cough, trying to straighten his voice out again. _"Not like it was an actual child."_ The shell hit the sand as the wave pulled back slightly, followed by one that was thrown as far as his arm could muster. _"It's not like it was some kid that died, he was only a pet. One I hadn't-"_ Saltwater must have gotten in his eyes. _"One I hadn't had for long. Shit happens, you know?"_ He hazarded a glance behind him. No-one was there. The boy sat on a nearby rock, staring out at the ocean. It shouldn't hurt. Should it?

In 'the pointless day' Kaili had to do something. He quickly found himself at the pokemon center close to the Bed and Breakfast. The moment he stepped through the door, a beeping sounded and all but one of his pokeballs were removed from him. Assuming it was some form of error correction, the young man approached the small computer terminal nearby. 'Alolan Trainer Pokemon Storage System' the screen read. Scanning his ID, Kaili quickly found his pokemon listed as icons with names inside a database. He tapped on each one in turn to read the stored information.  
Kladenets: Honedge. High power.  
Bird: Pikipek. Close to evolution.  
Divey: Luvdisc. Traded.  
Buzz: Mareep. Close to evolution.  
Tiny: Mimikyu. Unknown error.  
Cyndaquil: Cyndaquil. System repaired.  
 _"What's a Mimikyu?"_ his eyebrows furrowed as Kaili scoured for more information. Mimikyu; A ghost type pokemon. Disguises itself like Pikachu. _"Oh. Not an amputee. Well, I guess I'll take you five"_ He tapped several icons, each followed by the sound of pokeballs reappearing on his belt. Mr. Balloon, Kladenets, Bird, Divey, Buzz, and Tiny. The Cyndaquil could wait a little.

After grabbing a complimentary breakfast sausage, Kaili stepped out of the pokemon center and almost directly into Hau. The boy was excited and grinned at Kaili like a madman on crack... or too many malasada's. _"Kaili! I was hoping to run into you."_ The young man sighed, truer words had not been spoken. _"Our Grand trial's tomorrow!"_ Kaili nodded in response before he started walking. _"You going to train? Grandpa Hala's really strong."_ It's not the trainer, but the pokemon. _"True. But his pokemon are super strong too!"_ Hau was almost like a spring tailed little pig, hopping so excitedly around Kaili as they walked. _"I know! We should train together."_ Kaili stopped, raising an eyebrow at the young native. _"Don't worry. I've gotten stronger. I even caught myself another pokemon! They're both going to be really strong."_ Kaili simply gestured to his belt of six pokeballs. _"Oh"_ Hau stopped bouncing, clearly thinking for a moment. _"How about a trainer battle? 2 on 2. Loser pays the winner."_ Kaili didn't even need time to consider, gesturing to an area nearby they could use. _"I've been practising. I remember how easily you beat me at the festival. I don't want that to happen again."_ Hau smiled. _"800$ if you win."_ Kaili had no money to offer in response, so he simply nodded. He wasn't going to lose.

In a flash of light, a sword sat in Kaili's hand. _"No fair. I looked into it, Honedge aren't even native to Melemele island."_ he pouted.

 _"Fine. I have a Drifloon, Pikipek, Luvdisc, Mareep, and Mimikyu. I can beat you with any one of them."_

Hau thought a moment. _"I've seen Pikipek and Drifloon around."_

Kaili nodded, returning Kladenets to his ball. _"To keep it fair, Mr. Balloon and Bird it is."_ And in a flash of light, a small black, white and red bird stood in front of him. Another flash and a small yellow pokemon with black tipped ears was in front of Hau. _"Pichu? Makes sense, Electric against Flying."_ Hau smiled. Both pokemon Kaili had agreed to use were flying types, giving him the advantage. He shouted a bunch of numbers and the pichu clenched its eyes and started to shiver. _"hmmm, Bird, attack after the flash of light."_ Hau smiled, Kaili's pokemon hopping around. Little sparks of electricity hopping off the Pichu as it continued to concentrate. And all of a sudden, Kaili roared. Well, less a roar and more an exceptionally loud shout. Hau jumped in alarm, and the pichu's eyes snapped open. Little jolts of electricity shocked the ground around the yellow pokemon in flashes of light that left even their origin a little dazed. Seizing its moment, Bird swooped in, grabbed the Pichu and, following the movement of its masters fingers, flew upward. It could not carry it for long, and simply dropped when high enough. A loud beep sounded and the pichu was gone in a flash of light a second before it hit the ground. _"Ah, Unova only recently got that failsafe. Good to know it's out here too."_ A large bird landed in front of Kaili. It had features similar to his pokemon but was larger, with a bigger beak and more aerodynamic form.

 _"Wow it evolved? Awww, now I have no chance"_ Hau shook his head, pulling out his phone and typing away. _"I just sent the money to your trainer account. Looks like I'll really have to train before the grand trial!"_


	16. Chapter 15

Again the young man found himself sitting at an outdoor table in a small rural town. Sheltered from the sun by the patio roof. The table bore one chair, while three tables nearby each housed five. He tried to imagine the world was silent. Pushing the sounds away from him as he stared at the tabletop. Quietly he grumbled, gently disconnecting some scales from each other and his shirt. His eyes started closing before the clatter of plates somewhere nearby jolted him back awake. The left of his top lip curled slightly at the noise but he resumed his very important exercise of awaiting the coffee. Breakfast was bought with the money Hau had given him the day before. This is how he was going to have to live, surviving off the prize money of battles, and his own wits in the wild. He'll tell the professor not to worry about him staying there any more. Had to assert his independence. 'assert independence' what is he, 12? Clearly, one in the afternoon is too early for Kaili to be pretending to be awake. After blinking a few times, the young man's eyes focused on the object in his hands; Two pieces of, some fluffy soft material? Bread! His eyes narrowed. He was eating a sandwich, anyone's guess what kind.

A shadow passed over the table, preceding an exceptional amount of energy sitting into the chair opposite him. How can Ivy be that damn radiant and excitable this early. For that matter, her hair is so long, is it a cushion under her succulent- He coughed and choked a moment on his sandwich. A smell wafted into his nose. A perfect, delicious smell. Did she always smell like this? His answer came quick as she pushed a small cup of black liquid across the table to him. He lifted the the small Styrofoam cup to his lips. The first few drops of coffee were a fresh wakeup all their own. the taste soaked into his tongue, the warmth rushing down his throat and the smell in his nostrils reinvigorated the young man, allowing his eyes to focus on the sun in front of him. _"So?"_ She asked, the sound of her chair legs striking the ground almost brought to mind a galloping horse, or an excited puppy.

 _"It's good. Thanks"_ He smiled, now properly fueled.

 _"No"_ Ivy giggled, taking a sip of her own cup. _"Are you excited about the grand trial!?"_ She pulled the green frame of hair from around her face, hooking the left behind one ear. _"You and Hau have your Grand Trials today right?"_ The young man nodded, drinking some more. _"Well, I'll be there, cheering you on from the crowd"_ She beamed at him.

The young man could see over the lass' shoulder as people wandered up the stairs toward the platform at the second level of the 'town'. Following his gaze, Ivy whipped around and looked eagerly at the few people. _"Aww, there's not many people this time."_ He could hear the pout in her tone. There were more than enough people for Kaili's liking. He simply sat quietly, drinking the coffee. _"Come on! You don't want to miss it!"_ She bounced back out of her chair, excitedly looking from him to the staircase. He couldn't miss it, that wasn't possible. And in possibly the most painful way, he heard her very next statement. _"Quick! Come on"_ She smiled and giggled as she grabbed his arm, pulling him to standing. But all his head could register was a stream of her voice, a dozen Ivy's each saying the exact same thing, all off by half a second. It was a cacophonous blast that knocked his head like an iron pipe by a guy in some side alley wanting the wallets of the young man and seven kids he was escorting. _"What"Are"What"What"Kaili"Wrong"Okay?"Kaili"You"Wrong"Okay?"_ her voice was concerned, he could feel her supporting him and his own hand on his forehead. He could feel the coffee rewarming his throat as a splitting headache ripped through him. Hala's voice boomed indistinctly in the distance, like a crowd singing along to a live performance.

When he managed to open his eyes again, the young man was standing at the front of the crowd, the excitable girl beside him. She was holding onto his arm, around the bicep and under his elbow. To onlookers she must have simply looked to be excitedly gripping him, but Kaili felt something beneath the hold. She was physically supporting him. This girl, so fit and leanly built was supporting his weight without showing it. He sighed a silent thanks before looking at the battle. On his right stood Hau, challenging his grandfather Hala who bore to the young man's left. Kaili found it difficult to focus on either person, or even their pokemon. It was as if there was five of each of them, echos of themselves moving out of sequence, echo'ing and passing through themselves as if they were there. He knew he was going mad. Knew he needed to take the pills, but a voice deep in his mind, between his eyes but back halfway through his skull, told him not to. No surer sign of madness was there. Hau's first pokemon was the Pichu, rested and ready for battle, all five of them. Hala released a horde of Mankey, the memory of the monkey king stabbed at him but he refused to look away. The echoes each fought a seperate battle, moving around and through each other. Five battles playing out at once in front of him. The young man forced himself to watch, focus on the foreground. The crowd in the back was worse, a seething mass of people, shimmering and crossing over themselves. Twenty bystanders appeared as 300. The Pichu was felled in most of the fights, each being returned by their respective echo's of Hau, before the young man unleashed his other pokemon. Rowlet's took the stage, clearly superior in this fight. Many of of the Hau's had no trouble crushing the Mankey, and the short fat red pokemon in a gi didn't last long either. The match ended, with Hala bowing five times out of sync to Hau, who bowed back to his grandfather each time.

As Hau walked down off the platform, Kaili picked himself up and moved forward. He forced himself to not show the pain, his walk was as natural as he could make it, his head held high as he took his place. _"Well, Kaili!"_ The Kahuna's voice echoed, as he seemed to move three different ways at once. _"You have been entrusted with the Sparkling Stone by Tapu Koko!"_ The crowd cheered again. _"I give you the same offer I gave young Hau. Shall you fight two, or three pokemon?"_ Kaili's brow furrowed, why give him the choice? _"Winning either counts as a victory in your challenge. But if you beat a third pokemon, I offer an additional reward."_ Kaili shrugged, accepting the offer against three. This man used only Fighting classification pokemon as far as he could tell. A combination the young man could swiftly crush, though he made no mention of this. _"Very well! Now show me you and your team's full power!"_ Kaili nodded, tapping the ball for Mr. Balloon as old man Hala tossed a pokeball into the air that all five arms caught. Kaili closed his eyes to avoid a feux epileptic fit as the ten flashes of red light lit the area in rapid succession. Hala's pokemon was a small blue-grey creature with two arms and two legs. It looked almost reptilian with fine scales and three crests on its head. The fight was quick, Mr. Balloon, all of him, simply bobbed out of the way of the punches swung by the little pokemon, until it did as it had to win every other battle so far; picked the opponent up. The machop's were returned at different times, the longest seemed to wait until he was 15 meters in the air.

Hala's second pokemon appeared much quicker, Kaili couldn't hear what he was saying over the echo's of the crowd cheering his first victory. Mr Balloon had floated over to rub its body against Kaili's chest, and to have the top of its mass patted in return. The Drifloon's new opponent was a strange purple crab with overly large blue claws. One eye appeared busted, like the black eye of a boxer. If the young man hadn't already figured out Hala used fighting types, this would probably make it perfectly clear. Under Kaili's instruction, the purple balloon once again closed in on its prey. Seeing nothing his opponent could do, the young man simply let his pokemon continue with the winning strategy. _"Pursuit"_ the voice echoed through his head as it was almost chanted by the large Hawaiian man. Hala's arms were crossed and he wore an undefeated smirk. Mr. Balloon swung away from a hit only to collide with the other claw coming from the opposite direction. The pincer closed on Kaili's purple friend for a brief moment before the airborne jellifish was able to squeeze away. Immediately it flew toward the young man with a whistling scream, clearly hurt. Without knowing what he was doing he had put himself between his pokemon and his opponent.

The young man's heart raced, the crowd went silent and the old man across the platform simply grinned. Kaili could hear his own voice whispering, but had not opened his lips. He could hear himself crying perhaps? Looking back at the field, he didn't see four of his balloon, but instead the bodies of three pokemon. Two bugs and a strange ferret creature. He was knealing beside each one. Only one pokemon was still standing against the echo's of Hala's pokemon; a black and red cat. He closed his eyes for a moment, hearing Hala call for the pokemon to return to the field or forfeit. mr. Balloon left the safety of Kaili's shadow, to float out into the ring once more. _"Pursuit"_ the young man whispered to himself. _"Hits harder when you flee."_ He began to see the situation as it was. And it was clear so did the crowd, as only Ivy and Hau had not fallen silent. Everyone else seemed to wait with baited breath.

Suddenly the battle wasn't simply a one move victory. It had become, at least to Kaili, a cerebral battle. His brain against Hala's. And his brain was already hurting. A chess match where while not in check, the young man could not move except to step into it. Should Mr. Balloon fight, another Pursuit could kill him. Should Kaili return Mr. Balloon, another Pursuit would kill him. Kaili took several deep breaths, to calm himself. _"Mr. Balloon, come here"_ The pokemon once again drifted over to its trainer. In its little eyes he could see fear. As much as he didn't want to show his hand, Kaili had to actually employ some measure of strategy in this battle. In his mind, Kaili could hear the kahuna's voice echo with another call to pursuit. It was a struggle, but he managed to pull his bag off his back, letting it slip from his fingers 'accidentally' when he had only half unzipped it. Several berries bounced out for all to see, but the young man kept his mind on his goal.

Reaching his hand into the bag, Kaili pulled out a handful of small yellow berries, flecked with black. Careful not to crush or drop any, but make it clear what he had taken. They smelt of a sweet acid, a delicious scent that he noted to try in a coffee at some point. Sitrus Berries; a common, though relatively weak, medicinal berry. Standing back up, Kaili continued to focus on the task at hand, not caring about the sounds around him. Gently he offered the berry to Mr. Balloon, who simply bobbed there, injured and confused. _"I'm sorry, eat it. It'll all be better soon. I promise"_. He ate one himself and offered another again to the pokemon, who quickly scarfed it down, clearly unsure why. Kaili winced at what followed. As he knew Hala would; the call came again for pursuit, and the crabs claw managed to again seize the balloon tight before it wriggled free, wounded and squeaking fearfully. The young man had half a mind to end the battle there, call quits. But to do so would mean he subjected this pokemon to such pain for nothing.

With a bundle of berries in one hand, Kaili petted the hurting pokemon again with the other. _"I'm sorry"_ Even Ivy had fallen silent, everyone was listening to the quietest words the young man spoke. _"But we have to keep going. I won't let him beat you."_ His eyes locked onto the pokemon's glistening eyes as it bobbed away, back to face its opponent, clearly hurting. Kaili fixed himself to standing straight, grabbed a berry with his right hand and fixed his expression to one of steely determination. His hand swung down and back up as far as the grinding at the back of his shoulder would let him. Now was the moment. The feint had begun. Hala shook his head slowly. He asked what Kaili hoped to achieve by torturing his pokemon like this. He could continue as long as Kaili could. The crowd seemed certain they knew the next moves; Hala would call for another pursuit, and Kaili would give his pokemon another berry. But they were surprised. Hala called for Leer. Should the next pursuit hit, not amount of healing would save the poor pokemon. But it was not to be, Kaili was not throwing the berry, but instead tapping the ball to return his pokemon. Mr. Balloon was gone in a flash of light, safe in his pokeball.

There was a scream of excitement, not simply a cheer, a full scream from the crowd directly behind the young man. He smiled and touched another pokeball. In a flash of light, a sheep appeared, eagerly bouncing around the arena, dodging each little punch from the crab, sometimes ducking back the way it had come. The pokemon bleated playfully and bounced close to the crab. Hala nodded with a slight smile. _"Old Hala's not holding back!"_ He called out. Followed some command for his pokemon to attack. Kaili wasn't listening, instead issue a call of his own. The crabs claw/fist pressed into the sheep's wool, and received exactly what it had asked for. The crab's drain punch, met Buzz's 'Thunder shock', and the foe keeled over, half fried. The young man let out a shaky sigh. The fight was not over yet, but something told him the worst had passed. Hala's final pokemon was a rounder fighting type, though not like any he'd revealed so far.

Kaili, having kicked himself back into the fight, issued his command. _"Thunder-"_ but before he could finish, a powerful bolt of lightning shot from the bouncing sheep and almost roasted the other pokemon instantly. _"Bullshit"_ the young man stood there, mouth agape, as Hala returned his pokemon and smiled. Announcing loudly to the cheering crowd, some words Kaili could not make out, as the cacophony suddenly returned.


	17. Chapter 16

In a flash of red light, the old man 'Hala' returned his pokemon to its chamber hanging from his belt. _"Hmp"_ The man grunted, staring unmoving at the young man as the crowd grew quiet. Kaili refused to look away. As long as he concentrated on the man standing opposite him, nothing hurt yet. _"The results come as no surprise to me. I must say you played me quite well there!"_ He roared with laughter. With long strides more befitting of a younger and fitter man, he crossed the platform to shake the young victor's hand. As the massive paws clasped around his smaller hand, Kaili felt a rock being pressed into his palm. _"Accept this Z-Crystal!"_ Hala beamed, stepping back. Kaili had no choice but to clench his hand else drop the object onto the platform in front of him. Hala waved to a point in the crowd and in under a second, the boy Hau was almost shoulder to shoulder with Kaili. _"Observe, boys. If you wish to use the Fighting-type Z-Power-"_ He continued, explaining the motions as he did them. The old man taking up a karate pose and punching the air in front of him before striking an 'intimidating' pose brought a tear to the young man's eyes. Such a thing was to be expected when you try to swallow your own amusement.

It didn't take long for the crowds to disperse again, a fact the young man was quite glad of. _"Kaili"_ Hala's hand clapped him on the shoulder from behind, spinning him around easily. _"I have another gift for you."_ Kaili rolled his eyes in response, he simply wanted to find out where to go next and head off. Maybe spend some time talking with his pokemon as he went. _"I understand that where you came from people taught pokemon attacks for use outside of battle."_ Kaili nodded, they were called HM's, but he hadn't seen any badges, so the mechanics here must be different. _"That means you probably don't have a ride pager. 'Ere"_ The man stood up straight and offered a strange green device. It looked like a phone but had a pull loop with what looked like a USB port. _"It's a ride pager. It was invented by a man who lives on Ula'Ula island."_ Hala smiled as Kaili took the device. _"You'll find some people will be willing to sponsor your travels. They'll give you one of these."_ More things. This time he was handed a pokeball with a colourful misty shell instead of the standard red and white. There was no button, only a USB port. On instinct, he slid open the loop and connected the pokeball to the USB, snapping shut the device. _"That pokeball is connected to a pokemon, but unlike normal, so are many others. Seven people, including Hau, have access to the same pokemon. This allows you to call it to you if no-one else is using that pokemon."_ The man stepped back, clearing considerable room in front of the youth. Pressing the button on the device, Kaili watched as the green light created a large bull-like creature in front of him. It could have been intimidating, were its tongue not lolling out the left side of its mouth. _"Tauros here won't help in any fights, but he will let you ride him for a while."_ The creature had a green and black saddle on its back, and shook its head at the young man's approach.

With both hands on the beast, and one foot where directed, the young man attempted to swing his leg up over the beasts back. Only to almost end up on his own in the dirt. Had it not been for the old man's hand on his lower back, he likely would have fallen. _"Does he come with a ladder?"_ the young man raised an eyebrow at Hala, who chuckled. He wasn't going to try that again, instead walking in front of the beast. _"Down"_ the young man clicked his fingers and gestured down, assuming the creature was trained for such a command. Luckily for the young man's pride, the bull pokemon lowered itself, making the task of mounting it, far simpler.

With Kaili upon its back, the pokemon stood once more. _"Now, Your next stop is Akala island. You should head for the docks in town"_ Hala patted the Tauros' rump before walking back inside. He wasn't even going to stand around in case Kaili fell off. Not that he'd want him to. Grabbing hold of the pokemon's mane, as there were no reigns, Kaili set off down the road to the main town. It was a much faster trip when he did not have to walk it himself. In a flash of red light, Mr. Balloon was wrapped around his arm. The balloon's body trailing behind with a whizzing screaming sound. They sped past the school, past several shops, before Kaili brought the bull to a screeching halt near the pokemon center. The halt was so intense that the young man tumbled facefirst over the pokemon's head to lan on his back on the ground with a loud smash. A grinning face immediately loomed overhead, and the tanned arm of the native Hau helped pull the young man to his feet. Kaili could barely hear the joke about his weight, something about malasadas, over the pain in his back.

With an arm around the eager guy's shoulder, Kaili hobbled into the pokemon center and to the desk. With a brief flash of light, Mr. Balloon was once again in his pokeball, which Kaili placed on the counter as the hologram recited her speech. He waved Hau away, leading the young man to trot to another counter nearby to talk about who knows what with the person behind it. Using his hands on the counter to support himself, Kaili stumbled around to the trainers computer. Once logged on, he changed his team configuration; swapping out Divey for the Cyndaquil. That poor pokemon had had some trouble recently, it should get some actual care. When the machine returned his pokemon, one pokeball disappeared, only for another to appear in its place. Muttering his thanks, the young man placed the pokeballs on his belt and staggered over to a table. _"That was a pretty impressive fall. You sure you're alright?"_ The boy smiled as he sat opposite Kaili. The young man's back was killing him, it felt like if he leant back against the seat, any movement would rip either the cushion or his own back apart. _"Here, I got you some painkillers and a Komala Coffee."_ The young man gruffly thanked the other, knocking the pills back quickly. The motion made him dizzy and spread a painful ache across his skull from the back leading forward.

 _"That probably wasn't the best idea"_ Kaili grumbled, sipping the coffee. Stopping that hard tends to be dangerous. _"No, standing up so soon, I could have broken my back."_ The image of himself at the base of a staircase came to mind. _"Doesn't feel like it though."_ He pulled out his phone, bringing up the website for the ferries of Alola. Comparing the times showed that the last ferry to Akala today will have already left by the time he arrived. _"Guess I have to wait here a whole night before- What are you even doing here? I thought you'd be at Akala already?"_ Hau laughed. He intended to go the other way. _"Other way? Guess you'll have to show me when I finish this coffee."_ They sat in silence for a few minutes. The quiet occasionally punctuated by Hau's excited talk about the fun he was having already on the challenge. Once the coffee was finished, Kaili's back felt better enough for him to stand again. Though he detoured before the door to buy five more pokeballs, which he stached in his backpack.

 _"So, do you want to ride him to the-?"_ Hau glanced over at Kaili. _"How about you just relieve him then"_ The boy poked his tongue out as he reached over and pressed a button on Kaili's Ride pager. The bull didn't disappear, but a light appeared on its collar and it wandered off to a nearby yard to gnaw on some grass. _"There, now if anyone else needs him, he can go to them."_ Hau began to stroll off up the west side of the island, with Kaili following behind. At the point where the road split, Hau turned left, heading to the Melemele Motel.

 _"We wanted to go to Akala tonight."_ Kaili brushed his hands across his pokeballs, allowing his pokemon a chance to stretch their legs. The Cyndaquil sat in his arms however, unable to keep the pace as Hau led them down a somewhat steep slope to the 'Big Wave Beach'. The Beach wrapped around a sizeable portion of the island. A few tents were set up in a line, with collapsable tables set up in each and an empty chair at the tables. A wooden billboard stood near a large rock at the waters edge, one of its legs clearly older than the other.

At the top of the billboard, the young man could make out the words 'Mantine Surf Records'. Hau had already rushed off to wade into the water slightly and pat a small but wide blue pokemon with a saddle in the water. The pokemon had a wide body with a long winglike sail stretching on either side of its body. It wore a small red board with handles on its back. Elsewhere on the beach, Kaili watched as people came in with the next wave, standing on the board. They'd hop off to wade through the shallow water beside it. Children were standing with shaky legs on the board while parents were lifting them off. Hau was eagerly waving him over to a small cluster of the pokemon as the families that were there began walking up the beach to the pathway. The excited boy was pulling his shirt off and stuffing it into his backpack as Kaili approached. He began to talk before Kaili answered by holding one finger up. _"Let me guess, you want my inflexible, clumsy ass to surf from here to that island over there"_ He pointed to a set of lights in the distance, at which Hau laughed. Apparently that was the expectation. _"You saw what I did on the-"_ The thought must have ended there. He had finished his statement, yep, definitely finished his pervi-statement. Ivy had arrived. Without drawing attention to it, he closed his mouth and resumed a correct posture as the perfectly filled biki-Sweet and excited girl approached them. _"Ivy"_ He smiled, recovering himself the best he could.

"Are you going to Mantine Surf to Akala too, Kaili?"/em Ivy beamed, looking at the two boys and jiggling excitedly toward one of the pokemon. Kaili hadn't touched his pokeballs, but in a flash most of the creatures had returned to their balls, apparently well aware of the embarressment to come. _"Are you really going to surf wearing all that?"_ She giggled at Kaili. The young man was still wrapped neck to heel in clothes. Rather than explain the problem he simply shrugged and approached one of the surfing pokemon. Mr. Balloon had a tendril wrapped around each of his shoulders, as if to keep him from falling. _"Naww the flooon loves you."_ She smiled, reaching up to tickle the side of the purple balloon, which lowered to let her.

The moment Kaili's foot rested on the board on the pokemon's back, it slipped out from beneath him like a bar of soap. He grabbed the next one by putting the toes of his foot through the handle while his heel sat on the board. It sat there, patiently, until he lifted his other foot to step up fully, at which point the pokemon shot off. The damn thing took his foot with it while the other planted itself firmly back in the sand. Resulting in a high pitched screeching of metal as Kaili ended up doing the splits in the shallow water that now was technically as deep as his hips. He glanced over his shoulder to see Ivy with her head turned away and eyes pointed upwards. He hand over her mouth created a mental image that should not be repeated. Hau on the other hand, put an arm under the young man's shoulder to help pull him to his feet.

With a smile on her face, the lass hopped easily up onto the escaping pokemon's board. Pressing her left foot down she hooked the handle with her right foot and swung the pokemon around to face the young men. Easy. Kaili nodded and attempted to follow suit, hopping quickly up onto another pokemon, which almost hissed with anger and slipped backwards under him. The young man toppled face first, but was able to stop himself by plunging his hands into the sand, slowing his descent and protecting his back. Glancing up at Ivy, it looked like she was swallowing both her lips, despite the curl her mouth still made. A song started up, emanating from her. With a smile she reached into her bikini top and drew out her phone. _"One minute- Yes?"_ She answered the call, drifting in a pattern a little more complicated than a figure 8. _"Thanks daddy. No I'm on Melemele still."_ She smiled, rolling her eyes in Kaili's direction while listening to the call. _"Yeah I'm on a mantine about to head home now. It's not that dark daddy, I can make it."_ A slight smirk and she shook her head. _"Love you too."_ Ivy hung up and restowed her phone. _"Dinner can wait."_ Kaili shook his head. He'll get the hang of it. He glanced around for Hau, only to notice him already far out to see at this point.

She seemed retiscent to leave him while so... uncoordinated. The young man shrugged. Kaili stood in the water, when the next pokemon approached, it was to gnaw at his ankle. _"Just go"_ He smiled. _"I can get the hang of this."_ It was becoming annoying. He twitched his lower leg, kicking the pokemon in the jaw and making it swim away from him. _"And if I can't, I can always catch a boat tomorrow"_ He chuckled. Mr Balloon whistled, bobbing above. _"See, he won't let me get hurt. He's a good buoy, aren't you?"_ It bobbed happily in response. It took a couple minutes, but finally he convinced her to get going as darkness was finally setting in. She smiled, kissing his cheek on a driftby and heading off in a different direction to Hau.

Alone on the section of the beach he found himself, Kaili could hear voices in the distance. People on the other side of the rock were saying something. With no-one else around, the young man decided to chance it, hoping people were really there. It occurred to him when he reached the rock that the balloon would be visible overtop. Mr. Balloon looked down at him, and then let itself rise up a little to peer over the rock. Kaili had to make do with peering around the stone to see the group. Four youth's in black singlets and shorts with white skull caps. Three were trying to explain to a fourth just how to get onto a mantine. So far, the fourth had managed to be kneeling on the board on the pokemon's back. A mounting concept Kaili found himself confused about why Hau and Ivy didn't recommend to him. Every time the rider tried to do something however, the pokemon would refuse, and at several points simply sunk itself under the water until he got off.

Kaili quietly backed away from the rock. He knew a way to get to Akala. And he wasn't going to wait all night to do it. He let his feet simply take him wherever they wanted as he pulled out his phone. The pokemon's face smiled up at him. _"I want to make a call."_ He asked quietly, Rotom apologised and allowed him access to the phone's functions. _"Lets see. What was it? 04, of course"_ He started typing in the number. _"915, 701, and 56?"_ He'd not called the number, in truth he didn't know who would answer if anyone. With a deep breath he engaged the call. It rang for a few seconds before;

 _"Hello, Mohn speaking. What can I do for ya?"_ The voice was clear and well spoken.

 _"It's Kaili. You have my Skarmory? Deathmachine?"_ The line was quiet a moment.

 _"Kaili?"_ Was the only response. Before the young man could reply the voice continued. _"You would not believe where I am. Kaili says-"_ The voice was full of wonder and excitement, as well as this strange hollowness. _"Kaili. Deathmachine is well. He's really helping me. I appreciate it."_ Kaili nodded.

 _"I'd love to see it some time, really. But I was wondering if I could get Deathmachine back for a moment, I need a lift from Big Wave Beach to Akala."_ The line was silent until a whispered response.

 _"I'll send him to you. Kaili. I think-"_ The call went dead. The young man didn't know how to feel about that conversation. But some part of it gave him the chills.

Not listening to Rotom's concerns about the man, Kaili strode around the rock to the four Skull thugs. _"You lot right?"_ He leant back against the rock, smiling at them. One of the three 'instructors' approached, swinging his arms in the weird poses they did. _"Come on, you really think that shit intimidates me. Look guy."_ He spoke past the nearest kid, who had stopped and was simply looking thuggish. _"You don't have to learn how to do that. Spend your time finding a cooler way to travel, and show these punks how it's done."_ He smirked. Turning as he noticed something in the sky. _"Like me."_ A great bird landed between the rock and the waterline. Immense and bronze, with green feathers under the bronze of its metallic wings.


	18. Chapter 17

Even in the crystal clear night sky, the island looked impressively massive. A tremendous volcano's body forming much of the island's main body. A flatish plateau spreading from the base, like a green beach, laying so low the tide threatens to sweep it all away each day. A small island sits to the right, not flat like the beach but possessed of no-where near the grandeur of the volcano. Specks of lights shone on the streets a few locations. Their lights almost drowned by the great red and gold glow of the mountains peak. The town in direct line from Melemele bore a dock, wheresat several ferries. The town was, despite the modern urban architecture, little more than a single street. Even in that regard, the buildings sat on only one side of the road. The asphalt screeched when the great birds iron claws tore at it upon landing. Once on solid ground, Kaili allowed himself to slide off the pokemon's back. Lacking its pokeball, he patted the creature's sharp wingblades twice before it flew off into the night again.

Standing beside a sign for the 'Heahea city tourism bureau', the young man straightened his clothes as three women came walking down the road toward him. One, an ebony skinned lass with curly red hair, walked behind the other two, and simply sat on the side of the road, legs hanging down the wall over the water beyond. Of the other two, Kaili recognised one. Her name was _"-Olivia"_ She smiled, stopping in front of him, a smirk on her face as she looked to the woman beside her. Yet another girl around Kaili's own age, the girl had green hair tied up in two long ponytails. She wore an apron that became pants near the bottom.

 _"Hey! Thanks for stopping by!"_ She beamed, holding a hand out, which Kaili took quietly. _"I'm Mallow, one of the captains here!"_

 _"I wanted to see who was cruising around on such a powerful pokemon and ran into Mallow here while she was out on a delivery."_ Olivia cut in before Kaili could introduce himself. The hands fell back to their owners. _"Now, if I remember right, you're on your island challenge?"_ The young man nodded in response, he opened his mouth to speak as she cut him off again. _"Kaili, if I'm not mistaken. You have a Drifloon."_

 _"Yes, I remember you from the festival too."_ He almost spat. As soon as his tone had sunk into the conversation, he felt pain rip through his head. It was as if he's been hit in the face with an axe, it cut through him so quickly he couldn't stop the tears welling. All he could manage was to bring his right hand up to the 'line' above his right eye.

As if she couldn't see what felt like a giant weapon hanging out of his head, the greenhaired girl spoke up excitedly. _"Oh! Then my trial will be a chance for all the fine ingredients that make up your team to shine!"_ He blinked, the pain was easing away. Olivia might not have even seen his reaction as she turned back to face the young man, having been looking back over her shoulder for who-knows how long.

 _"And Mallow isn't the only captain here on Akala Island, of course."_ She smiled, patting the young man's shoulder as the pain finally all but left. After a head nod from the older woman, Mallow began skipping away. _"OK, then. Your first trial will be at Brooklet hill. Go north through route 4 to Paniola town. From there to route 5, and Brooklet hill is near the coast"_ Her voice was almost apologetic. _"Enjoy your time on your island challenge, along with your Pokemon. I'll be waiting for my chance to face you in battle when the time comes."_ She smiled, walking away a bit before looking over her shoulder back at him. _"I'm looking forward to seeing what you've got!"_ She winked and left.

A short ways up the road Kaili could see a girl in a familiar wide brimmed white hat. She was staring through a window yet again, the small bag hanging off her shoulder shaking on occassion. Her head didn't turn at his approach, but she did smile weakly. _"Maybe I'll see about some shopping of my own... And I should find out about the ruins for Nebby's sake, too..."_ Both sounded like lies, as if she was trying to hide from him why she had come to this place. _"Oh! Kaili..."_ She finally looked at him and smiled. The young man was tempted to point out the lie but didn't much care to. _"I think Nebby might be interested in visiting the Ruins of Life."_ She turned away from the shop window to face him properly. _"Apparently they house the sacred guardian of Akala Island. A creature called Tapu Lele."_ A little voice piped up from Kaili's pocket, asking if he wanted to do a search on Tapu Lele. _"I was wondering-"_ She had glanced at his pocket but ignored the voice as Kaili was was. _"If you wanted to-"_ Her eyes widened slightly before she looked away. _"Uh, if you wanted to come take a look."_ Her lips pursed and she turned away, causing the young man to raise an eyebrow. _"At the ruins. Nebby seems to really like you, Kaili. I think he'd like having you come. With."_ Without turning to face him, she walked several strides to the edge of the building. _"I'll be at Tide Song Hotel if you decide you want to come along."_ She pointed down the side alley to the only building not on the main street, a massive almost palace structure. _"I'm supposed to be meeting someone there... Someone very important to me..."_ With the brim of her hat covering her face from the left, the girl walked quickly up the path to the large building.

By the time the young man had managed to wander to the corner, the door was shutting on the mansion in the distance. Something was off with how she'd been acting, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Deciding he was curious enough to see what it was, Kaili began a gentle dawdle up to the 'hotel'. Peering through the window of the door to the lobby, Kaili watched as the brim of her hat disappeared into the elevator. There were only five people in the lobby at the time. An old man watching the television, three youths in black clothes with white caps at a table, and a receptionist. Only the receptionist looked when Kaili entered the lobby, though perhaps only because he walked straight toward her. He asked about Lillie by name, trying his best to sound like a friend who had fallen behind. It took a moment but eventually the woman caved. Room 207. Kaili smiled, internally shaking his head at how easy that was. With a thanks he headed to the elevator Lillie had entered. As he passed the three kids at the table, he caught only a snippet of their conversation. _"I don't have artifact removal... but I might have player removal."_ He ignored them as the young man headed to the ruin of the lass, determined to know what's wrong. On the second floor a door stood open. With his hand under the lettering of '207', the young man eased the wood open slowly to peer in. Lillie was sitting on the end of the bed. Her bag on the ground, and Nebby sitting on her hat beside her. The lass wasn't looking at the door however, instead her head was down, looking at a picture she held in her hands. And her quiet sobs echo'd in his ears. Without saying anything, he took the doorhandle and slowly pulled it closed, making certain to minimize the click of its closing. The young man left without a word.

Halfway between the hotel and the street/town, a path branched off toward the island's inland. A rickety sign stood near the start of the path, simply reading 'Route 4 to Paniola Town' with a small map beneath it. The map showed a meandering path curving up a hill to the left of the entrance, and back down again to continue almost straight from the beginning to the end. _"The worlds laziest maze"_ Kaili shook his head, tapping each pokeball to allow the pokemon out. Kladenets, unable to walk, simply rested its hilt in the young man's hand. Kaili however strapped the shealth to his belt, so the act of carrying it need not exhaust him. The small rat cyndaquil, whom Kaili realised he had not named, sat on his shoulder. Buzz, looking distinctly shaved, walked beside him on his right. Tiny toddled along on his left, and tendrils wrapped around his hairline told him exactly where to find Mr. Balloon. Along the walk five people challenged him to pokemon battles. So easy was each fight that almost none of them left any impact on his memory. Each person moved twice; once for him, and once for real. The last trainer, some guy in a cook's outfit, didn't last more than one hit from the cyndaquil. The problem with that fight however, was that afterward, the pokemon on his shoulder had suddenly become so much longer that it almost slid off and hit the ground. It probably would have had it not clawed at the scales on his back and shoulder until he helped place it down gently.

Kaili was too busy admiring the nearly 3,300$ he'd 'earnt' from the battles to realise buildings were now on either side of him as he walked. The buildings were old but not in the same way as others he'd seen in Alola. They reminded him of structures in the old west out by Unova. Several large cow pokemon and small pink canines wandered the area. But despite all the animals present, there was almost no noise to speak of. Even his feet fell silent walking on the dirt roads of the small village.

The young man's first stop was the Pokemon center. Without a word to the 'woman' behind the counter he sat the pokeballs on the counter. While the automated service healed his pokemon, Kaili ordered himself, and his compatriots meals at the cafe in the corner. His pokemon were returned to him around the time his food was. Taking a table near the window he began to slowly munch on the sandwhich. When the young man happened to glance out the window, he noticed a pair of the black clothed youths being yelled at by a large woman in a blue shirt and cream pants. One of the youths was a young girl he didn't know. When the boy turned his head enough Kaili knew he did not recognise him either. Poking out past the boys side, where Kaili could see, was a mass of white fluff. He sighed, placing his sandwhich down as he stood up. _"You lot stay here."_ He 'ordered', allowing the pokemon to continue eating. Tiny, having not eaten anything yet, simply waddled over to Kaili's foot and sat on his toes. _"Okay, but you're eating when we get back."_ He shook his head and the two headed outside to find out what the commotion was about.

 _"I saw it! Don't you lie to me"_ The woman shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the boy.

 _"You don't know what you seen, lady"_ The girl snapped back. Her eyes flicked accusingly from the woman to Kaili, who had only just come within a couple steps of the arguement. _"Fuck off. This doesn't concern you."_ Kaili simply shrugged as he looked at what the boy was holding. Days ago he'd seen a Ninetails, a pokemon he'll forever remember as a soft-serve peacock fox. This, looking like a kiddy meal version, must be a vulpix.

 _"These two stole this pokemon."_ The woman snapped, turning her head almost instantly to Kaili. As if looking for backup. All the young man could see was a tiny white tongue poking out of the pokemon's mouth. _"Tell him. You stole it, I saw you."_

 _"Get ya facts right ya old bag."_ The boy scolded back, a wet spot appearing on his right arm after he returned to a relaxed stance. _"What do you care. It doesn't belong to anyone, it's a wild pokemon."_

 _"Hey."_ Kaili's voice was unusually sharp. Not loud or aggressive, simply sharp. _"I've got a headache, and the yellin's not helping."_

 _"No-one asked y-"_ The girl started.

 _"Thankfully"_ The young man was standing to the side of the group, facing the woman, not the youths. _"I can give you the answer right fuckin quick."_ The woman, arms crossed, leant back on one leg as if to invite him to do so. The young man looked down at the small pikachu-ish creature sitting on his foot. _"Tiny? Go back to the table and bring me an unused pokeball."_ The pokemon's body nodded, causing its head to flop comically, before it scurried away back to the large red roofed building.

 _"Don't you dare! They stole that pokemon from a woman in white clothes, I saw them. What do you think you're doing."_ The woman began rambling but Kaili ignored her, turning to the boy.

When Tiny finally returned with one of the few remaining pokeballs, Kaili plucked it from sitting atop the little head. He didn't really care as the pokemon returned to sitting on his foot. _"Here."_ He placed the pokeball in the boys hand. _"If its a wild pokemon, catch it."_ The woman began to speak up before his head clicked to staring at her. _"And if it's not, the pokeball won't do shit. And I will take the pokemon to the center to wait for the owner."_ She began to complain as the boy lowered the pokemon to the ground. _"Not negotiable lady, how many people has your screaming woken up already."_ The little white pokemon sniffed around Tiny. It didn't see as the pokeball was pressed to the back of its neck. In a flash of red light the pokemon was gone and the ball had begun flashing. _"See, wouldn't have gone in if it wasn't a wild pokemon. She was right, you didn't see what you thought you did."_ The woman almost growled when the pokeball clicked success. Her grumbling under her breath was audible as she stormed off.

 _"Yeah, thanks or whatever."_ The girl shrugged, grabbing the boy by the shoulder and leading him away while Kaili and Tiny returned to the pokemon center.


	19. Chapter 18

With the meal finished, the young trainer stood from the table. _"Come on. No pokeballs for a while, you lot can walk."_ He chuckled a little to himself. _"Enough mooching"_ Despite the phrasing, the young man held the door open for the small creatures to file out of. On the inside of the door was printed a map of the island, with a couple 'town's marked. North of Paniola Town was a marking called 'Brooklet Hill', his next goal. As the young man traced his finger along the shortest path to the dot, a small grating noise reached his ears from his feet. Looking down, Kaili could see the small fire pokemon; long bodied with little callous' on its back and head, licking at his heel. _"I- What are you doing?"_ It didn't respond. When he moved his foot away it scurried forth to resume the licking at one spot. _"Cut that out"_ He shook his head, reaching down to grab its front paws. When his hands neared, the pokemon jumped back. It ran in a strange pattern around him before settling in some grass, clearly watching him. He could hear it following as the group made its way out the north gate of the town. Kaili wasn't looking where he was going, instead looking through the various displays on each pokeballs. Alola didn't have a pokemon league, but did seem to abide by international trainer standards, each pokemon was limited to four sanctioned combat options, which were shown in a small toggleable display on the side of each pokeball.

 _"Kaili!"_ Hau was smiling from atop a wooden fence nearby. A narrow beamed old fence set in yellowing grass. _"Just putting in some practise before we head to Brooklet hill"_ The excitable young man hopped down off the fence. _"We should battle to- Why is it licking your ankle?"_ Hau chuckled slightly with an eyebrow raised. Kaili looked down to see the little pokemon's head looking up at him. It's triangular eyes were staring directly into the young man's own, while the end of its tongue was poking out of its closed mouth. After eyeing the pokemon a moment, Kaili looked back at Hau. At the other guy's feet stood only two pokemon; A large yellow rodent Kaili knew to be a Pikachu, and a large owl-like creature. The second pokemon was taller than Hau's Rowlet had been. Most of its feathers were white, with some green tail and wing feathers and brown plumage to look like a hood around its face. _"Oh! This is Dartrix. Rowlet evolved. Isn't it awesome.""Isn't""Awesome""Dartrix""Kaili""HELP""Battle"_ The voices started flooding into his head again, but a painful grating on his leg snapped Kaili's mind back to attention. He reached down to rub the pained spot on his ankle, wet as it already was. _"So, what do you say? A quick fight?"_ The young man nodded, Hau was a nothing fight but at least he was good for some exercise for Kaili's pokemon.

Hau gestured to an area nearby, away from the road should anyone wish to pass the pair by. Kaili shrugged, thinking about how it might look to Hau if his pokemon were to form a curve on his side, like the edge of a battle arena. Hau tosed some pokeballs in the air and two additional pokemon appeared in front of him; a small purple bat the hovered at his eye level, and an Eevee sitting on the ground beside Pikachu. Looking at his opponents set, Kaili pointed to his right and a little forward. _"Tiny, you're up first"_ The small pikachu-looking pokemon waddled forward. Hau pouted, mentioning how sad it looks, and that a pokemon with a disability like that shouldn't be made to fight. _"Tiny can handle himself."_ Kaili shrugged. Under protest, Hau sent forth his own Pikachu, it was only fair afterall. Kaili had begun reaching for the pokeball, simply thinking 'enough to win, not enough to cause lasting damage'. He'd grabbed the pokeball, but by the time Kaili looked up, the situation had changed. Tiny was sitting beside the pikachu; Hau's pokemon was battered and bruised. It whimpered meakly. For the second Kaili could see it before Hau recalled the poor thing to its pokeball, it looked almost as if the pokemon's back and elbows were bent backward, or at least unnaturally.

With a click of his fingers, Kaili returned Tiny to its place in line. The young man drew the sword from the steath at his hip, tossing it to between the two trainers. Hau responded by directing the Dartrix to approach. _"We've been training. Dartrix isn't going to be scared like last time."_ Hau smiled, his eyes slightly more closed and perhaps focused than any time before. With a shrug, Kaili issued the order for the fastest attacks Kladenets could make. The blade swung; a point of the hilt stopping in the air around which the blade swung. The bird however hit the flat of the blade with its beak upon each swing, stopping the attack each time. Each attack wore more on the sword than the bird, which easily slipped out of the way or deflected the strike with its own. With a new order, the sword flicked itself into the air. It spun and twisted unpredictably in the air as it fell. As it almost clattered to the ground, the hilt froze in the air and the sword swung around quickly to strike into the side of the owl. The owl squawked annoyed. It pecked at the blade and stabbed at it with a flurry of feather-like quills it produced from under a wing. With a sigh, Kaili returned Kladenets to its pokeball. One each so far, the most damage Hau had done in any of their fights yet.

Kaili looked down to the little fire rat sitting beside him. With a smile he bent his knees. _"Wanna play?"_ The pokemon licked his ankle again, its little rump wiggling. _"Go get it"_ He clicked his fingers, pointing to the white and brown bird. The pokemon trotted happily to between the two trainers. Kaili smiled at Hau. Hau however had taken a different stance, with legs apart as he began to dance. That stupid dance Ilima had done. A strong wind had kicked up all of a sudden, and the dirt around the birds feet was pushed away clearing a circle around it. Kaili could hear himself shouting in a painful psychotic mass, but he did not open his mouth. Suddenly, like a rocket, the Dartrix was propelled across the few meters between them, the dirt on the ground between them blowing out to the sides of the path and the grass falling flat at the pokemon's approach. The two pokemon collided directly, the fire rat hadn't had the time to even think of moving out of the way before it was too late. When the dust cleared and the wind settled, the Dartrix was sitting on the chest of the little pokemon. The young man felt a heavy stab of guilt, the image of the two people in the cave flashing to mind. The small pokemon stopped wriggling and instead growled. It seemed to almost nestle into being pinned under this pokemon, with only its head lifted. The ground began to smoke as, in a sudden flash of light, the grass around the two had caught fire. A ring of flame on the ground, with a pillar of fire erupting at an angle from the middle. _"Stop"_ Kaili called, and the moment it did, the owl fell over, on fire and screeching.

Hau screamed, rushing over and grabbing his pokeball. No matter how many times he pressed the button, the pokemon wouldn't return. _"Roll him"_ The young man ordered, pulling his jacket off and struggling to remove his shirt as he closed the distance. _"Roll him"_ He repeated, dropping to his knees with a loud clang. Hau began trying to grab and roll the pokemon, to put the fire out. Kaili's clothes went over the top of the pokemon, waving down, not sideways. In each glimpse of light when the fire was exposed to more air, scales could be seen across the young man's body. A patchwork of mismatched and disorganised metal plating growing out of his skin. His 'armor' looked like the surface of a mangled snake. Kaili ignored the other boy's staring as he finally put the fire out. Grabbing his bag, he almost ripped the zipper as he reached in. The young man fed blue berries from the searching hand to his other. He could barely turn his head at the right angle to look in the bag, as new scales seemed to have started growing out of his neck recently. The smallest scales were as far as three fingers width from his wrist on his right hand, and some had managed to make it to the back of his left hand. The young man crushed seven of the blue strawberry looking fruits in hand and began rubbing the juice and pulp over some parts of the poor birds obviously burnt flesh. _"Okay, Get him to the pokemon center quick. This is beyond just a garden fix."_ Hau nodded. Neither said it, but the fight was over. Kaili wasn't going to keep going.

Kaili watched as the other boy ran off, cradling his pokemon that was covered in a familiar looking shirt and jacket. _"Fuck"_ He whispered under his breath. A rustling sound made him look down. Mr. Balloon was plucking berries out of the bag and handing them to the Quilava. _"Looks like you'll be okay"_ He knelt down, looking the pokemon over before grabbing its pokeball and bringing up the naming screen. _"You shall be... blep"_ The pokemon looked at him, tongue poking out slightly as it swallowed the berry. The young man fed each of the pokemon a berry to thank them for at least watching the fight, before rifling through the bag to find another shirt. His only other shirt. With it back on, he looked around the area. The young man and his pokemon were standing in a fenced in field, one of many. In other fields he could see more of the cattle that had been grazing in town. With his mass in tow, Kaili hopped the fence and continued up the road. A single farmhouse stood a ways up the road, and the only non-bovine pokemon in quite a distance were in smaller enclosures surrounding it.

A single person was out on the street at this time of night. Except Kaili of course. An older fellow, wearing a shortsleeve shirt and fingerless white gloves for some reason. He was leaning on the wooden fence, checking his watch as he tapped his foot impatiently. A pokemon 'sat' beside him. A large red furred creature with two humps on its back. The humps did not bear the same fur as the rest of the body and instead appeared to be covered in some kind of callous leather. A large metal tray sat across the top of the two humps, with a collection of eggs slightly smaller than Kaili's head resting on it. The man didn't seem to have noticed Kaili, as when the young man drew close enough, one of the eggs shook. He could feel two hands, large but angled upwards, grab at his thigh and attempt to gently pull him backward. Tiny was the only pokemon Kaili's peripheral vision could not place. The moment the egg had cracked enough for the little pokemon to tumble out, the man had scooped it up in one hand. It was a tiny little creature. Yellowish brown with a black spot taking up most of the top of its head. Its legs hung such that Kaili could tell it would walk on two legs later on in life. It had two long spikes on its back, and a stubby tail that was a little longer than its lower legs. Legs that, in fact, the man was measuring with a measuring tape. The man was measuring various parts of the pokemon's body and noting them down on a piece of paper pinned to the fence.

The small pokemon had not yet even opened its eyes when the man sat it back on the metal tray. Kaili went to approach before realising that not only was something holding one thigh to attempt to stop him, but Kladenets was buried partially in the ground in front of him, with its banner wrapped around his other leg. Even Mr. Balloon was clinging to his shoulder. _"Are you""Fuck""How fucking dare"_ He could hear himself yelling, but hadn't opened his mouth. Through sheer force of will he pushed the voices from his mind before calmly returning those pokemon to their pokeballs. The man hadn't looked over, he was looking at his chart that he'd written the pokemon's measurements on. With a sigh, the man repinned the paper to the fence. Kaili was at most six meters away when the man scooped up the newborn creature in one hand, and tossed it into the grass nearby without a second glance. Kaili froze for a second. No way. With a click of his fingers he pointed at the slight movement in the grass. _"Bird, check on it."_ When he spoke, the man glanced up and waved as if at a passerby. But Kaili was not going to just keep walking.

When the young man was a stride away from the older person, bird landed near them. The pokemon gently lay the hatchling on the ground, where it squirmed slightly to its feet. Without a second thought, the man's foot moved forward and nudged the pokemon to fall back over. _"Whad'ya want?"_ The man check his watch and looked at some stickers on the eggs still remaining on the tray. Biting his tongue, Kaili asked somewhat calmly what the man was doing as he lowered an oran berry down to the pokemon on the ground. The little one was sniffing at the feet of the two men, while blep sniffed at it. _"Breeding pokemon. This batch are suppose to hatch tonight so I'm looking for any that are good enough to either replace the bitch or the buck to make the next batch."_ Kaili had to take a deep breath. Line breeding? _"Line breeding takes too long, I'm looking for perfect specimens and want myself a good Marowak."_ Blep had picked the little one up by the back of the neck and had slunk away slightly to sit low by the fence and watch the two humans. _"I don't need inferior units. So I release them to enjoy the wild."_

The young man's teeth were clenched so tight that he had to roll his lips in between them to let him part them. Bird was sitting on the fence the man was leaning on. Blep was licking the little newborn, though fur on the back of his neck was standing up. And the main light of the moment was the glow of Buzz's wool. _"That's a baby pokemon."_ Kaili snapped, the guy simply shrugged a response. The young man's fingernails cut into his palm. _"Are you kidding me?"_ He snarled, almost yelling. _"You threw the fucking thing away. It's not going to live in the wild if you fucking break its back minutes after its born."_ The man stood proper, a hand moving to a pokeball attached to the bottom of his vest. Better it die now than in pain because it can't defend itself anyway. _"How fucking dare you"_ he shouted in the mans face. Before the hand could touch the pokeball however, the young man moved. Kaili hadn't hit him even that hard. He couldn't, it was only his forearm, and the young man wasn't particularly strong. But there's something about copping a 3 inch thick iron rod to the face that tends to hurt. The man was bent backward over the fence; nose bleeding and several teeth shattered from the single swing, when Kaili moved to hit him again. and again. and- A voice emitted from the young man's pants pocket.

 _"I sent an untraceable email to the Alola Police department that there was an assault at Paniola Ranch. Leave now."_

Kaili first stepped directly backward from the man before turning left and striding over to Blep. With a tap on the pokeballs he returned each pokemon to his hip. Gently he scooped the little one up. _"A cubone eh?"_ It leant against his chest as the young man held it. _"Lets call you Dio."_ He didn't look at the man aginst the fence as Kaili resumed his march through the grass northward. _"You're safe, It's okay."_ it had nuzzled its face into him and was shaking a little. The voice from his pocket piped up again, reminding the young man that he could not legally carry more than 6 caught pokemon at once. _"I have you though."_ He whispered his response. _"I'm not catching him until he's old enough or strong enough to take part in battles."_


	20. Chapter 19

The grass around the road north of the farmhouse returned to a pleasant green colour. Two sidepaths branched from the road as it wound its way to the left. A large man in trial guide attire was grumbling at some children next to a large sign. The cubone, asleep in the young man's arms, curled in closer against his chest. A... Boy, would be how Kaili would later describe him, approached. The fellow was slightly taller than the young man, with green eyes and exceptionally sharp features. His blond hair was combed back in ridges on the left side of his head, while it bent forward in flat masses on his right. As if he was purposefully attempting to show both 'sophistication' and 'emotional instability'. The boy had two clips on his left ear, perhaps on his right as well if you could see through the shade of an explosion. His clothes were almost completely ruined. A black shirt so ripped and decayed that individual threads could be seen weaving in the gaps like a long abandoned cobweb. Surprisingly however, the boy addressed Kaili by name. Grabbing a pokeball and staring before demanding a pokemon battle. _"You serious?"_ The young man raised an eyebrow. _"Last guy who said that stood no chance."_ Kaili's scoff and laugh masked a slight cringe at his own words. _"You're really probably not much better."_

With a snarl, the boy tossed a pokeball up in the air, catching it after the pokemon was unleashed. A familiar bat pokemon hovered close to the ground when it appeared between the two. _"Pff, Zubat""Zubat"_ The young man could hear himself talking though he had not opened his mouth. He crunched his eyes closed and put three fingers to the folded skin between them, trying to press them out of his own mind. The voices continued, a stream of them constantly chattering around him. The other person's voice struck him as well, only once demanding that he choose a pokemon. _"Psyshock""Confusion""Didn't""How""Didn't work"_ He opened his eyes once more. He was insane. The voices in his mind telling him not to do what would win. And that dream telling him to listen. But, what if it wasn't? What if this was some kind of special alola zubat? Could the zubat here be Dark and Flying instead of Poison and Flying? Could his subconcious have picked up on something? No, it looked like any other Zubat.

 _"Are you even taking this seriously?"_ The boy snapped. Kaili sighed and reached down to tap a pokeball. He must have struck the wrong one, Tiny was standing on the field, not Buzz. The small pikachu looking pokemon might look electric, but it wasn't. _"You can enjoy Pokémon battling when you put everything you have into it... which clearly you haven't."_ He scoffed, shaking his head. _"Attack form seven"_ The boy barked. The zubat began to swoop at Tiny. It flicked over top of the little pokemon's yellow head, before looping over and slamming into the back of it's skull. Kaili only said four words. The simple order to not hold back. Giant black arms of solid, or is it a liquid, shadow emerged from beneath the bottom rim of yellow where tiny stood. One of these arms grabbed the air near the zubat. Despite not holding the pokemon, as the arm pulled back, it drew the helpless pokemon with. With one hand pinning it down, two others emerged. All three began scratching ripping and beating around the strangely pinned pokemon. Each handful coming away covered in blood and full of clumps of black or red fur. About a third of the way through this savage beating, the zubat vanished, and a small black and red fox faded into existance. The creature was screaming as a hand on its neck pinned it to the ground and the other hands assaulted it. As the boy returned his pokemon, Kaili shrugged and recalled Tiny as he asked the boys name. _"I'm Gladion. Me and my team are training to get stronger"_ He grabbed another pokeball, tossing it in the air to unleash his next pokemon. _"We have to get stronger!"_ His green eyes were locked on Kaili, almost as if personally angry with him.

As the boy 'Gladion's ball rose up in the air, Kaili smiled cockily. _"That was a dark type, not a zubat. But I bet this really is."_ He tapped a pokeball at his side. As the light faded, there were now two pokemon again between the two youth's: A purple bat, bobbing in the air, flittering from side to side. And a shawn sheep. The smaller creature was flapping so close to the other's ears it caused the poor sheep to thrash its head around in frustration. When Kaili finally looked, he noticed Gladion had a hand up to his face, fingers positioned as if to remove a glass mask that the young man couldn't see. The blond removed his hand to point. As his lips began to form the words, he was cut short by a thunderous boom and a blinding flash of light. _"Note to zubat."_ Kaili said, rubbing his finger in his ear to stop the ringing before stopping himself; if his ears are ringing, maybe he won't hear voices. _"Don't annoy someone who knows thunder."_

With another flash of red light, Kaili's pokemon was returned. Gladion reached for his final pokeball. His expression was the briefest glipse of sadness, before he remasked himself with cool carelessness. He did not throw this pokeball, instead simply pressing the button. The pokemon that appeared was something Kaili had never seen before. It was the size of a small horse. Black fur covered most of its body with the exception of a few locations. Its front legs from the joint down were green and thorny; with the texture like that of a bird and ending in talon'd feet. Its head was encased in a large metallic cage that hid almost all of it from view except the long white feathers that protruded from beneath and down its neck. More feathers grew out the top, bound together by part of this metal cage, taking the shape of a hammer or axe head. _"What the actual fuck is that thing?"_

 _"Can't cheat if you don't know the pokemon."_ Gladion responded. Kaili however, returned Buzz. _"Quitting?"_ The boy scoffed. Kaili however closed his eyes.

After rubbing the ringing out of his ears he focused. Looking for his own voice. Hoping some part of his madness knew what this thing was. It was not his own voice he found but Hau's. He was far away, as if shouting from across a field, but he could hear him so long as he concentrated. _"I don't know! Kaili! Whatever it is, it's normal type!"_ The young man nodded, again pressing the voices from his mind as he looked up at Gladion. With a blank expression he tapped a pokeball. As the pokemon materialised in front of him, Kaili refused to acknowledge or even contemplate the fact that apparently his subconcious mind sounds like Hau. What the fuck. When the light finished, and Kaili's pokemon could finally be seen... It's tongue poked out as it looked back over its shoulder at him. Holding up the pokeball, Kaili could see Blep's official moves.

 _"Apparently you know 'Brick Break'"_ Kaili's head tilted from looking at the small fire pokemon, to straight into the eyes of his opponent. Gladion ordered his pokemon with a command number Kaili didn't bother listening to. The moment the two pokemon were near each other, Blep headbutted the larger pokemon's leg. The creature shouted in pain and dropped its front end to rub its metal cage against the impact point.

 _"Hmph. How the fuck did you know that?"_ The boy snarled, returning the pokemon to its ball. _"Anyone else would look at that and think its a Flying type, or Steel given the cage."_ He walked past Kaili a little, not looking back. _"I've got to keep fighting stronger opponents. Looks like I'm still not ready."_ He shrugged, walking away without looking back.

 _"Don't cut yourself on all that edge."_ The young man called after him. He didn't care about the money Gladion should have given him. The blond boy held his middle finger up as he continued southward, heading toward the farms.

With a shrug, the young man looked down at Blep. _"Does it taste like cotton candy?"_ The Quilava looked up, tongue poking out after stopping mid lick. _"Ya did well."_ He tapped the pokeball, calling the pokemon back. Despite the encounter, the cubone in his arm had not stirred beyond turning over in its sleep. Kaili continued along the path, winding to the left until it ended at the door to a pokemon center. Beside the building was a pair of large trees flanking a wooden staircase leading into the darkness. A sign, nailed to one tree read 'Brooklet Hill'. Opposite the pokemon center was a large natural pond, shaded by a tree with berries on the ground beneath it. An old man sat on the side of the pond, fishing rod in hand. The line of the rod stretched out into the water, though Kaili could see no fish in the water. _"You realise-?"_ The man didn't look up as he mumbled something about his wife not knowing.

A little girl seemed to almost appear beside Kaili without any sound. She wore a black top with a white one over it, and large blue pants belted by string. _"Hello. I'm Lana."_ Kaili nodded once. Looking around the area before wandering over to the sign. _"I serve as the captain of Brooklet Hill"_ The statement echo'd in his mind a hundred times. Rubbing the top of his head, Kaili looked over at the girl. She was rocking back and forth on her heels. She looked thirteen years old at most. _"So?"_ Her cheeks had puffed as if annoyed. _"I'm a trial captain. It even says on the sign!"_ He shook his head, she could be lying about being Lana. With a huff, the girl grabbed her ride pager and, without a ball in it, summoned a pokemon to the pool. The old man jumped back startled as there was finally something in the pond. A gigantic blue aquatic creature with a shell and large neck. _"This is Lapras."_ The little girl looked at the big pokemon. _"I'm Lana, Aren't I Lapras?"_ The pokemon's head lowered to nuzzle the little girls.

 _"Well, guess I'm convinced."_


End file.
